Galatians 2:19-21

19 For I through the Law [under the operation of the curse of the Law] have [in Christ's death for me] myself died to the Law and all the Law's demands upon me, so that I may [henceforth] live to and for God.

In Christ we have died to the Law. That means that we have died to the Ten Commandments. For us to truly live for God, we must die to any notion that we must do anything on our own. The Ten Commandments and all laws require us to believe that we must perform a work on our own for our Father to then use us. The glorious Truth for us is that now through Christ we have died to all of those demands. We have died to we must wear this, or go to this building, or eat this. Now we serve in newness of the spirit through the full power of the Holy Spirit. We will be used by our Father to work, but we will never do anything first on our own or apart from God. 

20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Jesus is always God, He is just that way. No works keep Jesus being God or keep Him One with God and we are now one with Jesus, Ephesians 5:30-32. As Jesus is, so are we, even in this world, 1 John 4:17. I hope that you are seeing the freedom that we enjoy in Christ. Works did not bring us to our Father and works do not keep us with Him, Galatians 3:3. We will be used by our Father to do works, I am not saying for one second that in Christ we will not be used to do works, but what I am saying is that works do not in any way save us or keep us in Christ. 

The timing is salvation first, then being used by our Father to do works. The responsibility is all on Jesus to cause us to work, it is not on us, John 15:5. The Head must first direct and enable the body, the body does not first direct and enable the Head. Too many of us look to works. Jesus will lead us into being used, but it is all His timing and in His strength. Some of us may be used mightily and some of us may not, but we are all the body and we all enjoy the full and complete benefits of unity with our Father, Romans 12:4. Remember the parable that Jesus spoke of some people being used to work all day and some only being used to work the last hour of the day, and yet all were paid the same wage, Matthew 20?

21 [Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]

Don’t frustrate the gift that Jesus came and gave us by looking to yourself for works. Relax, our Head has us exactly where He wants us to be. He may be taking us to a place that is far different from where we are, but each one of us, right now, is exactly where our Head wants us to be. There is no condemnation for any of us who are in Christ, Romans 8:1. We are now free in Christ apart from any works. 

Galatians 2:17-18

17 But if, in our desire and endeavor to be justified in Christ [to be declared righteous and put in right standing with God wholly and solely through Christ], we have shown ourselves sinners also and convicted of sin, does that make Christ a minister (a party and contributor) to our sin? Banish the thought! [Of course not!]

18 For if I [or any others who have taught that the observance of the Law of Moses is not essential to being justified by God should now by word or practice teach or intimate that it is essential to] build up again what I tore down, I prove myself a transgressor.

Paul was actively used by the Holy Spirit to tear down the belief that the Law of Moses, or the Ten Commandments, was essential for us to be justified with our Father. Ask yourself: how many teach this way today? Most will actually attempt to teach us that the Ten Commandments are absolutely essential for us to be justified. This false teaching takes away everything from Christ and places it all back on us. This way of teaching is the teaching of anti-christ. There Truth is that there absolute freedom and liberty in Christ. Why would anyone want to go back to laws that man could not keep or perform? The simplest commandment was to keep one day Holy and man couldn’t even do that. Our Father knew that we couldn’t do any of it, because our flesh was weak, so He sent Jesus to set us free from all of the law.

For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [ the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [ subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], Romans 8:3

Our Father knew of our weakness because He created us to be weak. We were created to be able to accomplish nothing on our own. 

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike]. Romans 11:32

Our Father gave us the gift of freedom from sin, it is called grace. It is all free and it is all undeserved. The Truth is that as soon as the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in this freedom, the things that so many try to not do with their own strength, will actually stop. Our fruitless acts will finally stop when we are empowered to understand that we aren’t responsible to keep ourselves. These acts will stop, because it is Jesus causing them to stop. In Christ we look away from everything, including ourselves, and when we are empowered to do this, freedom and maturity are the results.

Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

Do you consider yourself to be dead to sin? 

Galatians 2:13-16

13 And the rest of the Jews along with him also concealed their true convictions and acted insincerely, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy (their example of insincerity and pretense).

14 But as soon as I saw that they were not straightforward and were not living up to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before everybody present, If you, though born a Jew, can live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how do you dare now to urge and practically force the Gentiles to [comply with the ritual of Judaism and] live like Jews?

15 [I went on to say] Although we ourselves (you and I) are Jews by birth and not Gentile (heathen) sinners,

16 Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but [only] through faith and [absolute] reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Therefore] even we [ourselves] have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law [for we cannot be justified by any observance of the ritual of the Law given by Moses], because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).

Thank You Father: We are not justified by the Ten Commandments. We are justified only by faith and this faith is not our own, it is Jesus’ faith which is active and alive within us. 

And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith. Philippians 3:9

Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

We are not justified or used by our Father by us first keeping any laws. It doesn’t matter what our church attendance is or isn’t. It doesn’t matter how we wear our hair or what clothes we wear. It doesn’t matter if we can quote verses of scripture or we can’t. We are justified by Jesus and we are ever being led by Him. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us. Fake religion hates this freedom that Jesus has delivered to us. 

[My precaution was] because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in [to the Christian brotherhood]; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage [under the Law of Moses]. Galatians 2:4

The circumcision party hated the freedom that Christ brought to us. They wanted our relationship with our Father to be based on our own works. The same hatred exists today in many churches for our freedom. But through Christ we are free at last, free at last, thank God through Christ we are free at last! 

Galatians 2:11-12

11 But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I protested and opposed him to his face [concerning his conduct there], for he was blamable and stood condemned.

12 For up to the time that certain persons came from James, he ate his meals with the Gentile [converts]; but when the men [from Jerusalem] arrived, he withdrew and held himself aloof from the Gentiles and [ate] separately for fear of those of the circumcision [party].

    

Here we are shown the problem that Paul had with the leadership of the Jerusalem church. James sends people to Antioch who are of the circumcision party. James sends people that believe in the law and works over Grace. They have a belief that mixes in the old with the new. They try and have it both ways and Paul absolutely puts the lie down. This is not the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit will not allow Paul to tolerate it for one minute, even from Peter, who Paul knows that our Father is using. James as a leader is allowing a false Gospel to be taught and he sends his people to places around the region to try and enforce it. James, by allowing a party to exist in the church that requires circumcision, supports a gospel that is not the Gospel of the Kingdom. Then for him to send these people to check up on Paul, really shows us where his heart was. 

This is the same thing that happens so often today. People try to live their life’s by laws: wear this, do this, don’t do that, make this day holy, keep these rules, try to live the Ten Commandments, and keep these other man made laws. It all sounds very religious, but it all brings the attention and power to man. It is a false Gospel, it is carnally minded and it is death.

And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions, Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross. [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross]. Colossians 2:13-15

Through Christ all of the old laws have been completely cleared away from us. No one is being saved by the Ten Commandments or any other laws. We are only sanctified by Jesus, not by us keeping or not keeping laws. It is all Christ within us. He is our power and He is our only strength. Jesus is our perfection. If we are mature or not mature in no way limits our Father’s ability to use us. If we are young and seem to be making mistakes, it doesn’t mean that we are not perfectly united with our Father, it just means that we are young and immature. It just means that Jesus hasn’t brought us to where we are going to be, yet we still are every bit as saved as someone who He has been brought to a mature state by Christ. In Christ we live in eternal liberty, that is the law of freedom that our Savior gave to us.

DO YOU not know, brethren--for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law--that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive? For [instance] a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband. Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her [she is free from that law]; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. Romans 7:1-4

For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit]. Romans 8:3-4

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). 2 Corinthians 3:17

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?] Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh? Galatians 3:2-3

Beware of teachers and doctrines that tell us what we have to do. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we welcome the Gospel of the Kingdom which proclaims what Jesus has to do through us. 

Galatians 2:7-10

7 But on the contrary, when they [really] saw that I had been entrusted [to carry] the Gospel to the uncircumcised [Gentiles, just as definitely] as Peter had been entrusted [to proclaim] the Gospel to the circumcised [Jews, they were agreeable];

   

8 For He Who motivated and fitted Peter and worked effectively through him for the mission to the circumcised, motivated and fitted me and worked through me also for [the mission to] the Gentiles.

   

Do you see a difference here in verse 8. Paul is giving God the glory for using Peter to tell the Truth, but earlier to James and the other leaders, Paul says whether they were leaders or not he didn’t know. The Truth is that the leaders in Jerusalem were probably being taught more by Paul than they were teaching Paul. For guys  who were caught up in works that probably had to really bug them. They were seeing Paul being used powerfully and they are trying to work on their own and they are just not seeing the same results. But how could they deny what our Father was doing through Paul? 

9 And when they knew (perceived, recognized, understood, and acknowledged) the grace (God's unmerited favor and spiritual blessing) that had been bestowed upon me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars of the Jerusalem church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised (Jews).

Think about what we are being shown: after twelve years of preaching the church finally recognized Paul and began to fellowship with him. So what church was Paul working with before that? So many believe that you have to be in a church and answering to church leaders to be used by our Father, so what church allowed Paul to preach before? The glorious Truth is that Paul wasn’t answering to a bunch of so called religious leaders and our Father still used him powerfully to proclaim the Truth that was setting people free. So once again, do not fret about it if our Father does not have you in a church. Because the Truth is that He has you in The Church that has not been made with human hands. Our Father will never allow us to fail. If He has us going to a physical church then great and if He doesn't great, He is our Father either way! 

10 They only [made one stipulation], that we were to remember the poor, which very thing I was also eager to do.

In Christ we cannot help but to be eager to help the poor. We are one with Jesus and He is very concerned with the poor, so we can be no other way. 

Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38

Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything which he possessed was [exclusively] his own, but everything they had was in common and for the use of all. And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (loving-kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly upon them all. Nor was there a destitute or needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses proceeded to sell them, and one by one they brought (gave back) the amount received from the sales And laid it at the feet of the apostles (special messengers). Then distribution was made according as anyone had need. Acts 4:32-35

The Holy Spirit gives us our Father's measure to help the poor. We have our Father's physical, spiritual, and soulful abundance to be able to be charitable unto every good work, 2 Corinthians 9:8. 

Galatians 2:6

6 Moreover, [no new requirements were made] by those who were reputed to be something--though what was their individual position and whether they really were of importance or not makes no difference to me; God is not impressed with the positions that men hold and He is not partial and recognizes no external distinctions--those [I say] who were of repute imposed no new requirements upon me [had nothing to add to my Gospel, and from them I received no new suggestions].

Here we can see some of the problems that Paul had with the leadership of the church back in Jerusalem. If Paul was really sure that someone had been appointed by God to be in leadership, he wouldn’t have written: those who were reputed to be something. Paul is questioning these so called Christians leaders here to the Galatians. Writing that whether they were important or not, is not showing any confidence in their calling by our Father as leaders. When Paul wrote about his own calling he always gave glory to God, here with these leaders he doesn’t. 

Think of what was actually happening in Paul’s life. Paul was being shown by the Holy Spirit our Freedom in Christ. Our Father wasn’t just showing him through words, He was showing him His miraculous power to confirm what He was telling him. Paul was seeing and hearing things men just don’t hear, 2 Corinthians 12:1-7. Paul actually wrote that because of Christ, he was free to do anything, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 10:23. Paul knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was being shown that Jesus was always our Shepherd and that He would never leave us or forsake us. Then these so called Christian leaders from Jerusalem show up in Galatia and try to tell the people that they have to work for our Father’s favor. Paul just wasn’t the type of man to let that kind of misrepresentation of the Truth slide by. 

Here is a great place to look at what our Father had Paul write in Romans.

For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope. Romans 8:20

Paul was shown the Truth that our Father intentionally made us to fail when we think that we have to first do things. 

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike]. Romans 11:32

Paul knew that our Father had created us to have to totally depend on Him. Paul was shown the glorious Truth that Jesus came and died and that He did away with all the requirements of works. Our Father showed Paul the true meaning and freedom of Grace, Romans 8:2. These so called Christian leaders from Jerusalem were completely going against what Paul was shown and that is why he questions their authority. Here is the powerful Truth: the Holy Spirit will cause us to do the exact same thing to the false teaching of human works and efforts. Here is another great Truth, our Father will allow us to be attacked for it, just as He allowed Paul to be attacked, and it will show forth His glorious power through us, Romans 5:3.  

Galatians 2:3-5

3 But [all went well!] even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

Think of why this was written. There must have been a huge push to have people get circumcised by the religious leaders in Jerusalem. What these leaders were doing was running back to the Law. The Law sounds far more religious then grace ever does to many people. These leaders were trying to bring people again to the bondage to their own actions. Grace was being watered down by the leaders of the Church, because human works look and sound more godly. So Paul was telling the Galatians here that the efforts of the leaders had failed. He was writing this because these same leaders were trying to get the Galatians to follow the Law. They were trying to steal the peace that the Galatians had found.

    

4 [My precaution was] because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in [to the Christian brotherhood]; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage [under the Law of Moses].

5 To them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might continue to be [preserved] for you [in its purity].

So why was this happening in the church at Jerusalem? It was happening because our Father was allowing them to become weak. Paul was being used to grow a strong and powerful church outside of Israel, that was placing all of its trust in the power of our Father. Yet the church in Israel was being allowed to weaken as they trusted in themselves. Our Father was withdrawing His knowledge and wisdom from the Jews to fulfill what Jesus had proclaimed. 

Truly I declare to you, all these [evil, calamitous times] will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate (abandoned and left destitute of God's help).  Matthew 25:36-38

We read a lot about James, Jesus’ brother in the New Testament. James took on a major leadership role in the church at Jerusalem, yet Jesus never appointed him one of the original twelve. We will study later that Paul seems to have had a definite problem with James and his reliance on Jewish traditions and laws. This is what was making the church weak, people were going back to themselves. They were trusting in works and their abilities to persuade God. They were trusting in their part to play and not on our Father controlling every part of their lives. These teachings are something other than the Gospel of the Kingdom and those who preach it are cursed to fail. Jesus knew what was coming and He clearly told the people that they were going to be abandoned and become desolate because they would trust in themselves. 

Galatians 2:1-2

1 THEN AFTER [an interval] of fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem. [This time I went] with Barnabas, taking Titus along with [me] also.

    

2 I went because it was specially and divinely revealed to me that I should go, and I put before them the Gospel [declaring to them that] which I preach among the Gentiles. However, [I presented the matter] privately before those of repute, [for I wanted to make certain, by thus at first confining my communication to this private conference] that I was not running or had not run in vain [guarding against being discredited either in what I was planning to do or had already done].

  

Think about this, for over fourteen years Paul had been used by our Father to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Gentiles. Our Father had used Paul to heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the Truth that set the captives free. Paul was attacked and delivered several times for being used to do this. Our Father was mightily using Paul and many were benefitting from it, yet our Father did not have Paul answering directly to a Pastor. Many religious people in our times would call Paul a lone gun, a rebel, a spiritual bastard, and doomed to fall because he wasn’t directly being told what to do by a church government.  

Are they [ministering] servants of Christ (the Messiah)? I am talking like one beside himself, [but] I am more, with far more extensive and abundant labors, with far more imprisonments, [beaten] with countless stripes, and frequently [at the point of] death. Five times I received from [the hands of] the Jews forty [lashes all] but one; Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been aboard a ship wrecked at sea; a [whole] night and a day I have spent [adrift] on the deep; 2 Corinthians 1:23-25

Then after all of these years of being used, our Father Divinely inspires Paul to go back to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles. What we are shown here is that our Father wants us to fellowship. Paul knew that he was being used by God, even though a church wasn’t directing him. Paul had to know, because he had seen our Father working through him in ways that only God could do. Yet our Father wanted His body to be one and He wanted His Truth to be confirmed out of the mouths of all of those who He had put in positions of ministry. Our Father knew that a book called the Bible was going to be written. Our Father knew that these letters would be used throughout the centuries to inspire faith. Our Father knew that we would be studying these letters and using them today, so He inspired Paul, Peter, and John, the three primary writers of the New Testament to all be in agreement, out of the mouths of two or three let everything be confirmed, Matthew 18:20. 

Yet as we will see later in this Chapter, there were divisions between those who had taken over leadership roles in the church at Jerusalem and the Apsotles. So Paul was also sent back to Jerusalem to preach the Truth that was being lost by those who had crept in to steal the freedom that we have in Christ. 

Galatians 1:17-24

17 Nor did I [even] go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles (special messengers of Christ) before I was, but I went away and retired into Arabia, and afterward I came back again to Damascus.

    

18 Then three years later, I did go up to Jerusalem to become [personally] acquainted with Cephas (Peter), and remained with him for fifteen days.

    

19 But I did not see any of the other apostles (the special messengers of Christ) except James the brother of our Lord.

   

20 Now [note carefully what I am telling you, for it is the truth], I write this as if I were standing before the bar of God; I do not lie.

    

21 Then I went into the districts (countries, regions) of Syria and Cilicia.

    

22 And so far I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea (the country surrounding Jerusalem).

    

23 They were only hearing it said, He who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the very faith he once reviled and which he set out to ruin and tried with all his might to destroy.

    

24 And they glorified God [as the Author and Source of what had taken place] in me.

People glorified our Father because Paul was used once by our Father to persecute and now he wasn’t. We shouldn’t be so quick to judge actions, our Father works in wonderful ways even though to the world it seems foolish, 1 Corinthians 3:19! 

What we are shown here is that Paul really never worked under the direct authority of a church, yet he was used powerfully and wonderfully by our Father. We will see this even more clearly later in Galatians. Look at what Paul wrote about the church leaders in Jerusalem.

Moreover, [no new requirements were made] by those who were reputed to be something—though what was their individual position and whether they really were of importance or not makes no difference to me; God is not impressed with the positions that men hold and He is not partial and recognizes no external distinctions—those [I say] who were of repute imposed no new requirements upon me [had nothing to add to my Gospel, and from them I received no new suggestions]. Galatians 2:6

These were the leaders of the Church, the Apostles, and Paul writes that whether they were of importance or not made no difference to him. This is not how a person writes about someone who our Father has placed as an elder over them. The fact that Paul was not directly reporting to these leaders in no way hindered him from being used by our Father. Many of us are not sitting under a pastor or elder of a so called church, don’t ever let that bother you! Our Father is very capable of dealing with us directly. So never let anyone condemn you if you are not. If our Father wants you in a church then you will be in one. If He does not, then you won’t. But either way our Father is in complete and total control of us. I believe that this is why our Father had Paul write all of this here, because many of us are not called to be in conventional churches and that is alright! 

Galatians 1:14-15

14 And [you have heard how] I outstripped many of the men of my own generation among the people of my race in [my advancement in study and observance of the laws of] Judaism, so extremely enthusiastic and zealous I was for the traditions of my ancestors.

    

15 But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased

Once again, the Truth is that Paul was called and set apart for use by our Father before he was even born! Paul was chosen even though he zealously persecuted Christians. Our Father knows us completely. He knew us before we were and He still called and chose us. He chose us even knowing all of our faults and all of our shortcomings. The Truth is actually that our Father made us all to be disobedient, that is what the Word teaches us. 

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike]. Romans 11:32

Grace doesn’t judge, it is just freely given. Grace is all undeserved and where sin abounds, our Father’s Grace much more abounds, Romans 5:20. Our Father knows how He made us and why He made us the way that He did and He will and does have mercy on all of us. 

16 To reveal (unveil, disclose) His Son within me so that I might proclaim Him among the Gentiles (the non-Jewish world) as the glad tidings (Gospel), immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood [did not consult or counsel with any frail human being or communicate with anyone].

Here is another great Truth: when a person is born again we don’t have to immediately get them into Bible classes. Paul didn’t and look how our Father used him. For the first couple of years babies are raised primarily by their parents and then as they grow they have more and more fellowship with others. We don’t send our kids to kindergarten until they are five. Our Father will never leave us or forsake us and He especially won’t when we are a new born. 

But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [ permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him], just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do]. 1 John 2:27

We have been given the Holy Spirit to teach us all things, John 14:26 and His anointing will never leave us. So don’t fret about if a new born isn’t being led into a church. Our Father may want them to Himself for a while. The Holy Spirit is the power for us to learn. He may do this One on one or He may use brothers and sisters to work through. Either way it is all the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Galatians 1:11-12

11 For I want you to know, brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me is not man's gospel [a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard].

    

12 For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but [it came to me] through a [direct] revelation [given] by Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

    

The True Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel that Jesus preached, has to be Divinely given to us. We must first be glorified so that we can then be used to glorify, John 17:1. It has to be first given to us by our Father because man on his own wants to have the control of what transpires in his own life. So many people boldly proclaim that God does not want puppets or robots, yet that is exactly what they make Him. Without the power of the Holy Spirit we want to make God reactive to our will, instead of us being reactive to His. It all sounds religious, but as long as the power is directed towards man and what we must first do on our own, it is a false gospel. Man doesn’t want to think that we are owned, even though we read that Paul repeatedly called himself the slave of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 7:23. Man apart from Jesus wants to think that we decided to accept the Truth, yet the Bible repeatedly tells us that the Holy Spirit caused us to accept and that we were chosen and that we did not choose, John 6:44. This is why the True Gospel is hated and this is why those who are used by God to share it were hated, and are still hated today! 

13 You have heard of my earlier career and former manner of life in the Jewish religion (Judaism), how I persecuted and abused the church of God furiously and extensively, and [with fanatical zeal did my best] to make havoc of it and destroy it.

Paul loved it and was zealous about it when he was persecuting Christians and yet our Father chose him. Paul wasn’t seeking Jesus when he was called and the glorious Truth is that Paul was chosen before he was born, this means that he was a child of God, even when he was doing all of this evil, Galatians 1:15-16.

But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased To reveal (unveil, disclose) His Son within me so that I might proclaim Him among the Gentiles (the non-Jewish world) as the glad tidings (Gospel), immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood [did not consult or counsel with any frail human being or communicate with anyone]. Galatians 1:15-16

   

Paul was set apart by our Father before he was born. He was chosen before he was born and yet our Father allowed him to joyfully persecute his brothers and sisters in the Lord! How could our Father do such a thing? Our Father can and He does, because the Truth is that when we are being persecuted and tried, He becomes strong within us.

But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength). 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Trials and persecutions are to be gloried in, because when we have no idea what to do, our Father is His strongest within us. So it is not at all freaky to think that our Father, Who owns us, may have used us to persecute our brothers and sisters so that they could be strong. This takes true Holy Spirit inspired and empowered humility to accept, but when He does empower you with it, what peace and joy! 

Galatians 1:10

10 Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).

If our Father is leading you as He was Paul to understand and have faith in the glorious Truth that it is His power and His will acting in our lives, then you will not be liked by men, especially so called religious men. You won’t be liked because Jesus is a Stumbling Stone and He is a Rock of Offense. He is these things to many people because man wants to earn our Father’s favor through their own efforts and powers. Many want to glory in their acceptance or denial of God. It takes all of the the fun away for these people when they hear that if we believe, we only believe because Jesus caused us to. 

And, A Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God’s] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do. 1 Peter 2:8

How awesome is that verse: people disobey because they were destined to disobey! Ask yourself, who set’s destiny? Our Father does, Psalm 139:16. So if the disobedient were destined to do so, they will also one day be destined to understand the Truth that will set them free.

Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth. 1 Timothy 2:4

These people may have never been destined to understand the Truth now, while they are on the earth, but they will one day. One day our Father will allow them to see the Truth and they will be set free by it. Some people may have to go through the fire of Hades first, and they may not be chosen to be the Bride of Christ, but they will be saved from the Lake of Fire.

But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:15

Take note! I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and learn and acknowledge that I have loved you. Revelation 3:9

Our Father tells us that those who were disobedient will one day come to us and not only acknowledge that we were actually being used, or loved by God, but they will also learn from us. People don’t learn in the Lake of Fire, they are destroyed in the Lake of Fire. These disobedient people now will be our guests at the Wedding Feast and they will learn the Truth that will set them free. They will understand the Truth that it is all our Father and that it always has been Him. They will come to know that it is and has always been His free will and not ours. They will know that He controls and controlled everything all of the time. They will be set free by this Truth and they will eternally be our guests in eternity! 

Galatians 1:9 Part II

9 As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!

So stop and think about the Truth of the Gospel for a minute. The Truth is that the Kingdom of our Father, the power of God, has come to dwell in man and it has come to us because of what Jesus is and what He did for us. The Holy Spirit tells us that if this is not being preached then it is a lie and whoever is preaching it is cursed to failure. The Holy Spirit tells us that even if an angel tells us something different than it is all our Father’s power within us, then it is a lie. With  verse 9 in mind think about what so many preach today? Think about what you believe about Heaven? In Heaven is it our will or is it our Father’s will that controls everything? Will we have a free will in Heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is now within man, this is the Gospel. If anyone is preaching to you that we have free will, this is contrary to the Truth that the Kingdom of Heaven is in us and so it is a lie. If they are preaching that God is not in control of everything, or that we have control of anything, or that God gave us control, that is contrary to the Truth and it is a lie. Who controls the Kingdom, us or our Father? We are not called Lord!

There is a ton of preaching that focuses on us and not on God and it is all a lie. So many preach what we have to do to have our Father act in our lives. Ask yourself, is that how it is in Heaven, or the Kingdom? In Heaven is our Father reactive or is He active, does He respond or does He control? The Gospel is that the Kingdom of Heaven is now in us and for us, anything else is a lie, regardless of who is preaching it! 

Look at what the word Lord actually means.

The dictionary defines Lord as something that has power and authority and influence.

The Greek word that we translate Lord from is Kurios, it means: He to whom a person belongs. He which has power of deciding. The Possessor of a thing, the owner, one who has control of a person, the master, and the sovereign.

If someone is preaching that we influence our Father with our own acceptance or choice, so that He will act in our life’s, that is a lie. They will call this belief faith, but faith is not a human ability to believe the Truth’s of God, faith is Jesus’ ability to believe God working through man. This is why we look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2. Anything being preached other than the Truth that it is Jesus deciding and influencing us is a complete lie, it is not the Gospel of the Kingdom and it should be exposed for exactly what it is. This type of preaching is anti-christ, it is a gospel of man, it is a gospel of deception, and it is carnally minded and it will bring the curse of death. 

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. Romans 8:6-7