(By Kim)
I have been meditating on Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia and I tremendously enjoyed reading the apostle’s stand for the Gospel. God used Paul powerfully in ministry, and studying his life from the statements he made in Chapter 1 of Galatians alone tells me obvious reasons why Paul was PAUL – the most important figure of the Apostolic age.
Here are five things he says:
1. I was sent not from men nor by a man, but by God
(ref: Galatians 1:1) Much of the mess in ministry or your personal life can be avoided when you make your decisions on the basis of what God is telling you to do.
Go. But only when you are sent by God and God alone, lest whatever you do will be an activity for you. And activity will only drain you. Strive constantly to be in the will of God, no matter how insignificant or absurd it looks, and you WILL bear fruit. And all along, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, not on your successes or even failures.
2. My goal was to please God
(ref: Galatians 1:10) Paul never did anything to win the approval of man or to please man, but his goal was always to please God. It is so important that we keep checking the motives of what we do and why we do in the light of God’s Word so we don’t end up doing things to please men or our flesh.
Hello Pastors, what matters is not whether your congregation falls in love with your sermon, but whether you have spoken the heart of God.
If you call yourself a servant of Jesus, you better consciously, intentionally, purposely and every time choose to please God, than people.
3. I preached my revelation from God
(ref: Galatians 1: 11) Paul’s message of the gospel of grace transformed Christianity. And Paul was preaching a message that he received as a revelation from God, and not what he received from any man.
If you want your message to birth transformation and revival, check where it is originating from. Make sure you are sitting at the feet of Jesus – that’s the birthplace of revelation! The world doesn’t want somebody else’s revelation – that’s mere knowledge – and our ears have had enough of that! The world is waiting to hear your revelation. Common now!
4. I immediately did what God told me to do
(ref: Galatians 1: 15-16) When God reveals His heart to you, what’s your immediate response? When God revealed to Paul, the purpose of his life, his immediate response was not to consult any human being but to do what God was asking him to do.
When you walk out of a private consultation with the King of kings from your prayer closet, don’t dilute the message by consulting man. Rather do what God is telling you to do. Period.
5. I didn’t seek after man
(ref: Galatians 1: 21, 23, 24) Paul didn’t seek after man. In fact he was personally unknown to the churches when he started preaching. But that didn’t bother him, as long as people heard his testimony. And the result? People praised God because of him. That’s how faceless we should be. Seeking not to make ourselves known, but to make our God known. Let’s get busy showing off Jesus!
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