Galatians 1
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man,
but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father,
to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
"Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise."
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God said His Creation is good.
God sent Jesus to save the World.
In the middle of loving us - the people Paul tells about Jesus - Paul says this is an evil age. Does Paul stay there? Paul glorified God.
John never fully recovered from seeing evil take the life of God's Son John said God is Love. And how did this affect his four co-authored Bible Books? He overcame.
John 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another
New Testament ~
God is mentioned 1221 times.
Jesus is mentioned, by name, not by titles, 1058 times.
Love is 678 times.
Lord is mentioned 616 times.
391 times Son is mentioned.
Faith is mentioned 296 times.
Righteousness is mentioned 273 times.
Heaven is mentioned 266 times, not including references to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Righteousness.
263 Believe.
255 times King is mentioned.
238 times Good is mentioned.
Brothers 182.
Heart 175.
168 times pray is mentioned and 61 times prayer is mentioned.
Evil is discussed 70 times in the New Testament, not including the 37 times in the Gospel.
Love is 678, while Spirit is 370. Give is 378. Household is 160. Together is 97. Forgiveness is 74. Honor is mentioned 65 times.
Why? This is an important question, why didn't the Scripture focus on the evil age?
1 Thessalonians 4:13
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
John, who lived, ate, worked, walked in awe of Jesus mentions evil how many times in his 4 Books of the Bible? 13 times.
We do not focus on evil because - Churches, like the Bible, do not start backwards and work to loving God -
John 1:4-5
In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
God sees us - the Beloved of God - as having the Light of Christ. We are commissioned to bring forth the Light of Christ in all people.
John 3:19
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Galatians 1:4
Lord Jesus Christ
who gave himself
for our sins
to deliver us from
the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father
To focus on evil stirs this -
all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossips, slanderers, haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
What Do We Want More of?
Please, Jesus, More!
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
He who is mighty has done great things for me!
His mercy is for me!
He has helped me, in remembrance of His mercy!
He has spoken!
The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe!
Justified by His grace as a gift!
Received by faith, showing God's righteousness!
His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins!
Father God, we know it is You who ran to us in the Prodigal Son. Help us to be the the people who ran to you in Your Gospels - the young man of great wealth, the crowd who ran to Jesus and He had compassion on them, the people who ran to bring the sick from their beds to Him, Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Peter, Philip and John, the people who ran to Solomon's Portico when the lame man walked and the woman who ran to say Peter was alive and at the gate.
You have promised when we earnestly seek You - You are there in our midst.
With man this is impossible, but with You, Father God, all things are possible. Our prayers and cares You take because You care for us. We will leave our cares with You, because You care a hundredfold. In You, Father, we will inherit eternal life. Your Word is fulfilled. You promise us in Your Own Name. Jesus the Lord. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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