(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) 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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. No one. Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks and turn to page number two? We're gonna start the service off singing glory to his name Please find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number two The age number two we're gonna sing glory to his name and we're gonna sing it out on the first down at the cross where my Savior died Down where from cleansing from sin I cried There to my heart was the blood of flight Glory to his name Glory to his name Glory to his name There to my heart was the blood of flight Glory to his name Page number two Speed up just a little bit and let's sing it out on the second. I am so wondrously saved from sin Jesus so sweetly abides within There at the cross where he took me in Glory to his name Glory to his name Glory to his name There to my heart was the blood of flight Glory to his name Oh Precious mountain that sees from sin. I am so glad I have entered in There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean Glory to his name Glory to his name Glory to his name There to my heart was the blood of flight Glory to his name Now you guys are singing good, but I feel like we could sing a little bit better So let's sing it out on the second come to this fountain so rich and sweet Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet Bunching today and he made come Glory to his name Glory to his name There to my heart was the blood of Glory to his name Great singing let's open up in a word of prayer father. God. Thanks. Thank you so much for this church Lord Thank you for these people coming out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you I pray that you bless the singing I pray that our singing would glorify you Lord and I pray they bless the service and the preaching and come in Jesus name I pray amen Please send your song books to page number 335 Page number 335 We're gonna be singing if Jesus goes with me, I'll go Page three three five and let's sing it out on the first it may be in the valley Where countless dangers high? It may be in the sunshine that I in peace abide But this one thing I know If it'd be dark or fair if Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere if Jesus goes with me Anywhere I counted up His cross to bear if Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere page 335 on the second it may be I must carry the blessed word of life Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife And though it be my law to bear my colors there if Jesus Goes with me. I'll go If Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere 7 to me where I may be a B is there I counted up His cross If Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere but if it be my portion to bear my cross at home while others bear their Burdens beyond the billows foam I'll prove my faith in him Confess my judgment fair And if he stays with me I'll go If Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere 7 to me where I may be a B is there I counted up His cross If Jesus goes with me Anywhere Let's go ahead and sing it out on the last it is not mine to question the judgments of my Lord It is but mine to follow the leadings of his word But if to go or stay or whether here or there I'll be with my Savior Content If Jesus goes with me I'll go Anywhere is that into me where I may be I counted up His cross If Jesus goes with me I'll go Great singing Amen we want to welcome you to the Wednesday evening service here at ready Baptist Church. We're glad you're with us Let's go ahead and take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly tonight If you do not have a bulletin, we are all out You have to share with somebody and sorry about that John 10 10 says the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly and that's a good verse there We like that if you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service times Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m We do invite you to be with us Of course on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for church Sunday evening service at 6 p.m And we're glad that you are out for the Wednesday evening Bible study Of course if you look at our sowing times our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m And then we have additional sowing times on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m So if you'd like to go soul winning, there'll be an opportunity for you to do that this weekend We'd love for you to join us if you are a first-time guest if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church We are so glad that you are with us We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight If you go out our main foyer or if you got our secondary foyer You'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see these little gift bags Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have The one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made it's called being Baptist. It's very well made very interesting We think you'll like it and we want to give this to you as a gift. So, please make sure you don't leave here This evening without grabbing one of those gift bags And if you are a guest would ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin if you need a pen you can just raise your hand and one of our ushers will bring You by a Verity Baptist Church pen and you're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well And we would love to just have a record of your attendance We actually would like to send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that So, please take a moment to fill the card out when we're done with the announcements We're gonna sing a song when we're done singing We'll receive the offering and as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate During that time if you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church What that means is that children and infants always walk them in the service We do not separate children from their parents for any reason We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience If you have a child that's being distracting during the service or if you need some privacy We would encourage you to use those rooms all the rooms have comfortable seating They've got monitor set up so you can watch the service and listen to it So, please make sure you use those if you need to be baptized, please let us know we'd love to baptize you You can let us know on your communication card on the back You can check off that you'd like information about baptism and we actually have a baptism lined up tonight So praise the Lord for that. We'll take care of that after the preaching Of course, if you look at the announcements and upcoming events, you'll notice the different sermon series that we are in On Sunday mornings, we've been in a series called helping people reach their full potential and on Sunday nights We are in a series called wilderness wanderings. It's really a study of the book of Numbers We're studying that together and then of course on Wednesday nights for our Bible study. We're in the Epistle of Galatians So we'd love for you to join us for all of those and we're glad you're here tonight And then of course, we've got several things coming up for the ladies All the ladies are invited to an elegant afternoon tea in honor of Mother's Day All ladies are invited to this you don't have to be a mother to come it's for all ladies It is in honor of Mother's Day and that is on Saturday May 13th at 3 p.m. And it's a fun time We'd love for you to sign up. There is a gift basket value that over $50 That'll be given away and you can sign up on your communication card to come if you'd like to volunteer to help if you go By our main foyer, you'll see a table set up with all sorts of different clipboards with different things that you could do For the ladies tea, so if you don't mind going by there and signing up for something We would appreciate your help and then of course the next day is Mother's Day on a Sunday May 14th at 10 30 a.m. And you can make plans to join us. We'd love for you to make plans to join us for Mother's Day on Mother's Day, of course, I'll be preaching a Mother's Day sermon and We'll have the children's choir singing in honor of Mother's Day And then we're gonna have a gift for every lady in attendance all the ladies and all the girls in attendance that day We have these nice Verity Baptist Church T-shirts for the ladies and we'll be giving those out on Mother's Day And of course, we'll give out the ones for the men on Father's Day So you guys just hold tight for that and then the choir recordings if you are part of our choir Don't forget that there's three recordings that are happening on Sunday night after the evening service. The first one was last Sunday night Today brother RJ sent over a recording of what it sounded like and it sounded great So make sure that you are there for that. Don't miss that children's choir. They're practicing at 515 in the playroom That's the room on the other side of the main foyer And of course, they're practicing for Mother's Day home school group If you're part of our home school group, there is a PE class tomorrow at 10 a.m. So, please don't forget about that There's other things there for you to look at Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service that they're not a distraction to anybody If you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for the month of April yesterday was miss Lindsey Johnson's birthday on April 25th today is brother Alan Courtney's birthday on April 26 and Then on in a couple of days We have Noah sweetens birthday on April 28th and brother James and miss April villas anniversary on April 28th praise report money matters All those things are there for you to look at I do have a baptism certificate to hand out tonight And I'll go ahead and read this quickly and this certificate of baptism Is awarded to Marty Jack? Kynan in recognition of his baptism on the 9th day of April of the year 2023 presented by Verity Baptist Church And of course, we've got the verse there Romans 6 4 therefore We are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we should walk in units of life and we have some pictures here for Marty to remember the day of his baptism and Let's go ahead and give him a round of applause And I think that's it for all the announcements So let's go ahead and take our song books and we're going to go to page number 19 page number 19 and we're gonna sing there is a fountain As we prepare to receive the offering Tonight page number 19. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein sing it out on the first And sinners punch They're guilty They're guilty They're gay That's what They're Good page number 19 sing it out on the second Rejoice to see My sins Oh My My Way page number 19 we're gonna sing it out on the third All right, but you you got to think about the words as you sing them there on the third It's kind of a song that you have to think about the words and sing it as a form of worship on the third here Lamb my precious blood We say We say To say Of God be safe to say no more good on the fourth Since my faith I saw the street By Me Me Good on the last No Song I'll sing by power My My God Amen good singing we'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly father lord, we do love you We thank you for allowing us to gather together on a wednesday night lord We pray that you bless the offering the gift and the giver We ask you to bless the time set aside for prayer and then of course for the preaching of your word in jesus name We pray amen So So So So So Amen, all right Well, let's go ahead and take our prayer sheets tonight If you did not get a prayer sheet on your way in just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you If you didn't get a prayer list on your way in just put your hand up and we'll get one for you And of course one reminder the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card on the back of the Cart there's a place for you to write down your request. Please mark whether it's private or public if it's private Only I will see it if it's public. We'll put it on the prayer sheet You don't mark it We'll do our best to figure it out But we usually don't put those on there We do add them in the order that they are received and we remove them after a couple of weeks And I would add ask that you just add to your prayer list if you'd like or just keep in prayer We've got several of our church Family on a missions trip to the bahamas and they're suffering for jesus in the bahamas But it is it is a very receptive area and they're getting lots of people saved. So praise the lord for that So please be in prayer for them. Of course, let's go ahead and bow our heads We'll have a word of prayer and i'll pray out loud and I ask that you would follow along in your mind your heart Let's pray together. How many father lord we Come to you tonight asking for these requests from our church family lord. We begin of course with Requests dealing with health. We're praying for brother ryan gibbs and for his upcoming dental work that it would go Well, there'd be no problems. We of course are continuing to pray for miss edith and we have requests here from miss edith and from Her son joshua from her mother-in-law. That's amy i'm all Just praying for her recovery and it's good to see brother. Joshua tonight lord We're just continuing to hold up miss edith in prayer and asking that you just continue to help her give a recovery from this surgery that she had lord and help her to Be able to heal Quickly and to heal In in the right way and lord. We also pray for the coughney family Praying for jasmine's healing from her seizures and also guidance with her medication management and how how to be able to Just get her in the right place With the dosage and all those things and lord we pray that you would give wisdom to the doctors with that that they would be able to help with that and We ask that you would please help jasmine and lord. We pray for brother darrell praying for pain in his mouth asking for that pain to be relieved and brother allen praying for Cindy For her healing from cancer and lord. We're praying that you would Heal her from cancer if it's your will lord that you would help her we ask for miss Shalomina who's praying for her vision in her right eye and also for her kidneys to heal And we pray for miss christina ortez for her health for savador for his health miss dogma praying for her pain to relieve the pain And of course, we continue to play pray for a little urezi that she would be healthy and strong And lord, we just pray for all these individuals. We ask that you give them strength and healing. We ask that you'd give wisdom to the doctors nurses dealing with them and then lord we pray for Miss angel cabuntala our missionary and the philippine's wife who's Going through chemotherapy and dealing with cancer and lord We ask that you would heal her and help her and then of course We pray for all the ladies in our church that are expecting miss ajana. Miss. Skyler. Miss. Karen. Miss ava Miss rebecca miss kiki and miss selena all these ladies are expecting lord. We pray that you'd give them healthy pregnancies With no issues and no complications lord We pray that the babies would be healthy that the mothers would be healthy and that there'd be no Problems there and then lord we pray for these that have requests for their families brother montel johnson praying for isabel that she would be able to live with them permanently and Ruben and kim wilson praying just have requests for his wife and for himself as well And lord miss christine ortez praying for her family and We ask the lord that you would please Help help there and brother salvador praying for his family as well lord. We pray that you would bless In those areas and then of course, there's the request for salvation Brother ron praying for his mom and his family's salvation Miss natalie praying for the salvation of her husband and her family brother allen not only praying for cindy's health regarding cancer But also for her salvation as well. Miss christine ortez praying for her children and grandchildren salvation Miss doctor praying for her daughter and her family salvation. Lord. We ask for all these individuals. We pray that you would help them We ask that you would help them to come to the place where they would be willing to Hear the gospel that they'd be receptive to it that they might be saved but we uh have a praise report from the o2 family Thanking uh, thanking god for answered prayer recently lord. We thank you for that. Of course, uh for that praise report and lord we also pray for Just Miss christine ortez praying for her faith and her walk with you brother salvador as well. We ask that you'd help them they're both also praying for Finances miss christine to be able to find her own place and work for brother salvador and lord. We ask that you would bless With those situations as well. We ask for miss docma as she's traveling to germany We pray you to keep her safe and bring her home safely as well And then lord we ask for all of these that Have unspoken requests miss diane de pascuale having an unspoken request miss natalie brother nate miss michelle scott Brother salvador miss docmo all of these having unspoken requests lord You know what their petitions are, you know what they're asking for and lord We ask that you would please answer according to your will and lord. We pray for our church. Of course, we continue to pray for the Prison ministry and we pray that you'd continue to bless that ministry. We thank you for the hundreds of inmates that get Letters from our church every Every month sermons that are transcribed for them lord. We pray that you continue to use those in their lives to bless them We also pray that you would help our church as we continue to Endeavor to go into the prisons and preach there physically We pray that you to open doors in the right locations and allow that ministry to be able to flourish and be better established lord, we ask for Our church members that are on a missions trip right now Pray you can help them to have a good time help them to be safe Help them to see many people safe and bring them home safely lord. We ask for Our upcoming events mother's day service and ladies tea that you would help these events to be a success and that Ladies would get involved and help and that they would also come and enjoy themselves and fellowship and be part of our church family Lord, we thank you for our church Here in sacramento, we pray for our church plants in the philippines and manila pampanga and be cool That you keep these locations safe and healthy and strong lord We ask that you'd meet with us tonight as we take another portion of scripture and Dissect it and study it and look at it lord. We pray that you would speak to our hearts Help us to draw closer to you. We love you in the matchless name of christ. We pray amen Please open up to galatians one Galatians chapter one if you need about you can put your hand up and initial might bring your bible Galatians chapter one If you need about keep your head up or she'll come by Galatians one we'll read the entire chapter as our custom Galatians one beginning verse number one Paul an apostle not of men neither by man, but by jesus christ and god of the father who raised him from the dead And all the brethren which are with me into the churches of galatia Grace be to you and peace from god the father and from our lord. Jesus christ Who gave himself for our sins and he might deliver us from this present evil world According to the will of god and our father To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of christ unto another gospel Which is not another but there'd be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of christ But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you and that which we have preached unto you Let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again if any man preach any of the gospel unto you then that you're received Let him be accursed Who do I now persuade men or god? Or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of christ But I certify you brethren that the gospel which is preached of me is not after man For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it by the revelation of jesus christ We have heard of my conversation in time past in the jews religion How that beyond measure I persecuted the church of god and wasted it And profited in the jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation Being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers But when it pleased god Who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace To reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen Immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood Now that went up to jerusalem to them with your apostles before me, but I went to arabia and returned again into damascus And then after three years, I went up to jerusalem to see peter and I bowed with him 15 days But other of the apostles saw I none saved james the lord's brother Now the things which I write unto you behold before god, I lie not Afterwards I came to the regions of syria and silicea and was unknown by faith into the churches of judea which were in christ But they had heard only that he was persecuted us in times past now preach it the faith which he once destroyed And they glorified god and me. Let's pray Heavenly father. Thank you for this evening god I thank you for your word and for our church and for the book of galatians and ask you give us all ten Our hearts to the message tonight. I say please be with our pastor to strengthen him and familiar spirit We love you in Jesus name. Pray. Amen Amen all right, we're there in galatians chapter number one And of course last wednesday night, we began a brand new bible study in the book of galatians. We're going verse by verse Chapter by chapter through the book of galatians and if you remember last week We made it through the first 12 verses of chapter number one And we saw that the apostle paul there spoke On really the reason why he was writing the book of galatians and the defense of the gospel the fact that there was Another gospel that was creeping in and being taught in the church and then in verse number 13 and really Earlier maybe verse 10, but we we'll pick it up here in verse 13 the apostle paul begins to speak About his personal testimony and of course paul does this Occasionally in some of his epistles and he does it here in galatians chapter number one and we will cover The scriptures from verses 13 to 24 tonight. We'll finish the chapter, but when we come back To galatians on wednesday night and we're in chapter two We will continue with paul his testimony actually continues in through chapter two But I want you to notice in verse 13 how he begins he says for ye have heard of my conversation And the word conversation in your king james bible Is an older word that means lifestyle or manner of life. So paul is speaking to the church in galatian He's saying you have heard of my conversation Notice what he says in time past he says, you know about my Past and you know about my lifestyle And like I said, he begins to speak on The subject of his life and his testimony and he's bringing these things up to the galatians for for a specific reason and of course, we'll tie it all in as we Go through the passage and go through galatians. But what I want to highlight for you tonight is that When you look at this testimony of the apostle paul and whenever you find yourself or I should Maybe I should just say whenever I find myself in a passage like this. I always get a little excited Because of the fact and you've heard me say this many times that the apostle paul is one of the most successful christians Who's ever lived? he was In whatever area you want to put him in just as a christian Um, he's probably obviously other than the lord jesus christ the greatest man who ever walked this earth other than christ Of course and as far as being an evangelist or a missionary a soul winner a pastor As far as somebody being successful in his calling in his career, there really is no one Then jesus who is better More successful more accomplished than the apostle paul and the reason that I get excited when I get to a passage where he begins to Give us his testimony And of course, we know that this is under the inspiration of the holy ghost. This is scripture But the reason that I like it is because we get to get a little bit of an insight into the life of the apostle Paul and the characteristics of the apostle paul and really the nuts and bolts of what made the apostle paul and tonight i've Titled this study this sermon secrets to paul's success Because of the fact that paul was a highly successful christian and in this testimony, though It is not his goal to tell us his secrets for success if you look at his testimony You'll notice that there is a recipe for success. There are some ingredients for success here and I would encourage you Uh to notice these with me and if you'd like maybe you can write these down on the back of your course of the week There's a place where you take down some notes I'd like to give you four five thoughts tonight regarding paul's secrets to success and I would say to you that these Secrets to paul's success no matter where you are And no matter what season of life you're in or what life you're living. These will be helpful to you Of course paul is a missionary. He's a preacher. He is a minister of the word of god So if you're here tonight and you believe that there's a calling on your life to one day go into ministry And you definitely need to write these things down And and and make sure that you are aware of these things because this is really a pattern for those of us that are in Ministry, uh how to live our lives, but if you're here tonight and you say well i'm not a pastor i'm not an evangelist I'm, not going to be in ministry. I i'm i'm a mother or I I work a secular job. I run a business Uh, these things will apply in any area of your life And if you can apply these things in whatever area you find yourself in you will find That god will help you succeed in that area whether it's Uh working a secular job pastoring a church homeschooling children Whatever it might be you'll find that these ingredients can be applied in all of those areas. So i'd like to highlight for you tonight five thoughts regarding Some secrets that we see from the apostle paul and the first one is this and if you want to write it down Uh, i'd encourage you to do this to do that when we're talking about paul's secrets to success. The first one is of course a Productive life or you could write down productive living in verses 13 and 14 We see a little bit about the work ethic of the apostle paul Now this is not the reason that he brings us up is not to highlight that but it's highlighted in the passage What we see is the apostle paul Speaking to us about his old confidence in the flesh notice there in verse 13 for ye have heard Of my conversation in time past notice what he says in the jews religion this was his old religion his prior religion in the jews religion how that beyond measure I Persecuted the church of god and wasted it and paul begins when he begins his testimony He begins with his past and he begins with this idea Of his old confidence in the flesh now our text is galatians chapter one tonight We're going to go through it, but I'd like you to go with me if you would to the book of philippians Just very quickly. You're there in galatians Keep your finger there or ribbon or bookmark or something there and flip over with me to the book of philippians. You're in galatians You'll go past ephesians into philippians galatians ephesians philippians philippians chapter number three I want you to understand the context if you remember we talked about it last week The themes of the book of galatian has to do with the defense of the gospel And it has to do with the fact that there are these judaizers Who are coming in to the churches of galatia And they are trying to turn people against the apostle paul, which is why we see the apostle paul defending his apostleship They're also trying to pervert the gospel or bring in another gospel, which paul told us earlier is not another he says It's the it's a gospel that is a false gospel and they are bringing what they are doing is they are trying to Bring in judaism Into christianity they're trying to tell these people that yes, you have to believe on the lord jesus christ to be safe But you also have to keep the works of the law you have to also have to keep the laws of moses You also have to keep the old Covenant and this is what paul is dealing with and he begins by telling the galatians here that they are aware He says you remember for ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the jews religion how that beyond measure? I persecuted the church of god and wasted it and what the apostle paul Is reminding these people because remember they're coming in and saying paul hasn't given you all the information Paul is only preaching you a shallow gospel. Paul is making it easy Believism paul is saying it's just faith and that's it But you also have to do the works you have to do the law and what they're doing is something that people often do When they try to attack leadership they'll minimize the leader and they're saying paul doesn't know I know that paul's your spiritual leader I know that paul's the one that got you saved and got you discipled and taught you everything You know, I know that paul's the one who literally came to this town and started these churches here in galatia I know that paul like paul said in second Corinthians He says yeah that that you don't have many fathers that paul is really your father in the faith And you are his children in the faith and and and paul is the leader that god has given them But they're coming and saying paul just he doesn't know he hasn't learned enough. He hasn't studied enough He doesn't know about the law and then so paul is bringing this idea up To remind these people and what paul really is saying is don't talk to me about the law. I was all about the law I I already know all about the law you're there in philippians 3 look at verse 3 notice what he says Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3 for we are this is paul again doing the same thing with the church at philippi For we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ. Jesus and have no Confidence in the flesh paul says look we are the circumcision We worship god in the spirit and we rejoice in christ Jesus he says we have no confidence in the flesh and this is what salvation is Salvation for those of us that are actually saved and truly saved. It's this Understanding that there's no confidence in ourselves. There's no Confidence in the flesh salvation has nothing to do with anything that I have accomplished in my flesh Paul says look we rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh But then he says this in verse four though. I might also have confidence in the flesh Because there's telling because remember these people are attacking paul and saying he doesn't know Let me tell you something that the pastor doesn't know Let me tell you something that the leader hasn't thought about yet And when paul says I might also have confidence in the flesh He said if I wanted to boast and brag about the flesh He said I choose to rejoice in grace jesus and have no confidence in the flesh though I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinking that he hath Whereof he might trust in the flesh look at it verse four philippians 3 4 if any other man Thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh paul says I more He says you want to talk about the flesh You want to talk about zeal and keeping the law you want to compare notes? He says, all right Let's compare notes verse five and paul begins to kind of give a little bit of his resume He says circumcise in the eighth day of the stock of israel Paul's talking about himself. He says you want to know who I am I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel. What is he talking about? He's talking about his ancestry He says of the tribe of benjamin. What is he talking about? He's talking about his nobility And hebrew of the hebrews. What is he talking about? He's talking about his pedigree As touching the law of pharisee. What is he talking about? He's talking about his piety He says concerning zeal persecuting the church. He's talking about his intensity touching righteousness, which is in the law Blameless he's talking about his morality He says look you want to talk about the law Don't don't talk to me about the law and don't come at me like i've never heard about the law He says I know all about the law. He said I got saved out of the law And paul you can kind of see his heart as a leader and and and and honestly in leadership I sometimes the apostle paul really encourages me because I see man if a guy like paul can get attacked like this Then then the rest of us need to just shut up when we're getting attacked as well Because this is a common way to attack leadership go back to galatians And we've seen it here, you know, my wife and I have been Here we started this church 12 years ago And it seems like every few years ago or for a few years or so People people show up with these with this new, you know, it's like the apostle paul. Oh, let me tell you something Paul's not talking about So look just just know this. All right in two or three years from now When some guy shows up and he's like, oh, let me talk to you about the flat earth Okay, we've already dealt with the flat earth we we we We've already heard that garbage Every few years or so someone shows up saying we don't you don't need to call upon the name of the lord Every few years or so somebody shows up saying you don't need to do this You don't need to do that and paul says look we've that's so last year We've already dealt with this And paul says if you want to talk about the law Don't don't talk to me about the law and don't come at me Like I don't know anything about the law. He says I got saved out of the law. I knew everything about the law He says concerning zeal persecuting the church touching righteousness which is of the law blameless He said I lived a blameless life. He said I was of the tribe of benjamin and hebrew of the hebrews He said circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel. He says it's touching the law of Pharisee He talks about his old confidence in the flesh Let me just say this if you go back to galatians That the apostle paul is bringing this up simply to state that this is nothing new This whole thing about adding the law this this is this is something that's been around and he says look You know about my conversation in time past in the jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of god and wasted it And oftentimes when paul brings up his past he brings it up with tears Because of the fact that he persecuted the church of god and wasted it Because of the fact that he was used before salvation to imprison believers Paul is the reason why the first martyr in the bible steven the first christian martyr in the bible Uh dies because of the apostle paul So this is something that paul not only had in his past But it was a major regret in his past the fact that he persecuted the church of god and wasted it and I and all I would say is say this if the apostle paul can find forgiveness and If the apostle paul can find that god will allow him to to to move on from his past forgetting those things Which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before then I promise you that god can help you do the same Amen Whatever past you have and whatever regrets you have and whatever guilt you have and whatever is is beating you up from the past If paul can get past the past so can you? So we see paul's old zeal for the law But then we also see paul's old zeal for work Notice there verse 14 He says and profited in the jews religion See that word profited the word profited Or profit it means if we were talking about money and he's not talking about money But if we were talking about money, he'd be saying I made a lot of money What paul is saying was if the ministry was a business i'd be amazon if if the ministry was uh, uh, uh, uh, uh fast food chain I'd be ray crock running mcdonald's I mean paul says I profited in the jews religion now. He's talking about his old religion He said I profited in the jews religion. Notice what he says Above many my equals in my known nation Notice what he says being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers Here's what paul said when I was a jew in judaism in a false religion He said let me tell you something I was the best of the false religion I profited in the jews religion above many my equals being more exceeding zealous of the traditions of my father He said I wasn't just in it. He said I was running it He said I wasn't just in it. I I was the best at it Now here's what's interesting And this is something that i'd like to highlight for you Keep your place there in galatians and go with me to the book of second corinthians if you go Backwards just back one book from galatians the the book right before the second corinthians chapter 11 In galatians chapter 1 and verse 14. We have paul And we have paul talking about himself in his old religion his false religion judaism work salvation Denying the christ the messiah the lord jesus christ, he said in my old religion I profited in the jews religion above many my equals in my no nation being more exceeding zealous of the traditions of my father He said in my old religion. I was the most zealous. I was the hardest worker. I was the most successful. I was the most profitable What's interesting is that then paul gets saved? And in second corinthians 11 Paul again defending his apostleship depending his defending his ministry notice what he says It sounds a lot like what we just read in philippians second corinthians 11 verse 22. Are they hebrew? So am I? Are they israelite? This is paul answering his critics. Are they hebrews? So am I are they israelites? So am I are they of the seat of abraham? So am I are they the ministers of christ? He says I speak as a fool now the reason that he says I speak as a fool because he realizes that what he's about To say is a little foolish now He says it because it needs to be said and the holy spirit wanted him to say But he wants you to know and he wants me to know that bragging is not something that we should Generally be doing but right now he's in the midst of a fight They're attacking him in order for him to defend himself He has to state some realities about his life and it might sound like he's bragging So he says i'm about to speak as a fool are they ministers of christ I speak as a fool he says I am more Here's what he's saying he says if they're a pastor i'm more of a pastor If they're an evangelist i'm more of an evangelist, I mean think about somebody saying that You got two preachers fighting each other and he's saying if he's a preacher I am more He says are they hebrew so am I are they israelite? So am I are they the seed of abraham? So am I are they ministers of christ? I speak as a fool. I am more and like I said on sunday Just understand something and you may not like it because our society has conditioned us to think that everybody should pass Everyone should get a diploma even if they can't read it. Everyone should get a trophy even if they lost every game But please understand something not all of us are created equal some pastors are better than others Some churches are better than others. And if you think that's me being arrogant, let me just say it this way Some church members are better than other church members It's just the reality of life Are they ministers of christ? I speak as a fool. I am more notice what he says in labors more abundant He says I worked harder Than all these other guys, let's go pause it you say I don't think you should say that Well, the holy spirit's having him say it I am more in labors more but and then he goes on i'm not going to read the whole thing But he goes on to give this whole list of how he's done more and accomplished more in stripes above measures And prisons more frequent and deaths off and he goes on and on about how he's done more Let me give you another example go to first corinthians 15 first corinthians 15 You're there in second corinthians go past to first corinthians 15 look at verse 10 first corinthians chapter 15 verse 10 first corinthians 15 10 notice what he says but by the grace of god I am what I am That's a good statement for all of us to say But by the grace of god paul says I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain That's quite a statement He said when god saved me that was not a wasted salvation Amen The grace that god spent this is paul saying The grace that god spent to save me was not wasted was not empty was not in vain Say why would you say that paul? Here's why but I labored more abundantly than they all Yet not I but the grace of god which was with me He says I labored more abundantly than they all he says I am more and labor is more abundant And here's what I want you to understand paul is saying paul is saying that he worked harder than any other preacher He worked harder than any other evangelist. He worked harder than any other Missionary he worked harder than any other soul winner. He worked harder than any other apostle at his time He said I am more i've worked more i've done more. I preached more i've accomplished more. That's what paul said Here's what's interesting That's the same paul. You might not have liked him The unsafe paul in the jews religion says I was the best pharisee I was the most zealous I was I was the most sold out for false religion. I persecuted the church of god I the bible says that he wreaked havoc upon the church in jerusalem. He said I persecuted I traveled I imprisoned people He what i'm trying to say what I want you to understand is this that paul Was just the type of guy that whatever he was doing he just got a hundred percent into it In fact, I think one of the reasons that god Allowed the lord jesus christ to appear to paul After the ascension in his glorified body and stop him on the damascus road is because god looked down from heaven And saw this hard-working young man. Saul who was working so hard for the wrong team. He said I gotta get that guy on my team I need someone like that I need him working for us and jesus stops him on the master's road and says, what are you doing? Saul? Let me make you an offer You say what can we learn from this a couple things number one You know what this shows me is this that salvation changes your destination It does not change your character So, what do you mean here's what I mean If you're a hard-working successful individual before you got saved you'll be a hard-working successful individual after you get saved And you say I like that okay, but here's the part you might not like if you were a lazy bum before you got saved Come on Because people get this idea like oh, I I got saved so now everything's gonna be great I'm gonna get up early every day. I'm gonna lose weight. I'm gonna be very, you know, i'm gonna save money I'm gonna do this i'm gonna do that. Please understand something if you were good with money before you got saved You'll probably be good with money after you got saved if you were a lazy bum before you got saved You'll still be a lazy bum after you got saved Now i'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I just want you to understand the reality of life that salvation Changes your destination where you're going. It does not change who you are Now there are some changes the holy spirit moves in But you can quench the holy spirit The fire of the holy spirit begins to burn But you can quench it you can grieve him now, here's what I want you to say salvation will not change your character Salvation will not change who you are If you had low character before you got saved you will continue to have low character after you got saved If you were deceptive before you got saved You will continue to be deceptive after you got saved if you're a coward before you got saved You will continue to be a coward after you got saved if you were lazy before you'll be lazy after If you were great before you're a hard worker before you're honest before you'll probably continue to be those things The difference is this Now for paul, we didn't have to change much Paul was already a hard-working zealous sold out hell bit for leather Charged hell with a squirt god. I mean he just paul was already the guy that got needed. He just needed to turn him around Stop stop working for the wrong team come work for my team Stop working for the devil come work for christ Praise the lord for that You said i'm no paul. Well, here's the good news for you Salvation will not change your character, but sanctification can Discipleship can When you begin to read the bible And learn the bible and apply the bible And begin to know the bible and walk in the spirit and pray in the spirit when you begin to walk in the spirit The bible says that if we walk in the spirit We shall not fulfill the loss of the flesh the apostle paul as we move on in the book of galatians Is going to tell us that the holy spirit can change you the holy spirit can change your character The holy spirit can take you from being a weasel and a dirtbag and you can begin to have love joy Peace long suffering jumps on his goodness faith meekness temperance Now you need to understand this because some of you are thinking myself yourselves man My husband got saved and he's still pretty terrible. Yeah, because salvation doesn't change your character Sorry I don't know what else to tell you Character has to be changed by work The word character comes from the greek idea of chiseling Sculpting an image onto a rock that requires work Now once you have the image on that rock, you're likely to not change it The problem is that some of you have been living bad character for a really long time Now we can help you and the word of god can help you and the holy spirit can help you and I promise you You show up to church like this three times a week and let the word of god Sanctify you and you actually listen and you apply these things and do these things it will change your life But we have to begin with the understanding that salvation only changes your destination Salvation Does not change your character but sanctification can Now here's another application All the good skills you had All the good things you had going for you You can use those for god now I mean paul's a hard worker got up early stayed up late Didn't mess around at work He was effective. He was disciplined And god said I can use that guy That guy and he got saved then he went from saul to paul He went from saul the greatest of the enemies to paul the greatest of the preachers So, what is paul's secret to success it's productive living Is living a productive life living an effective life Living a life that is effective with some zeal with some intensity. We're trying to get something done We're trying to accomplish something. Let me ask you something. What are you zealous about? You say pastor you don't understand i'm just a mother and i've got these children I'm trying to homeschool and you get some zeal for homeschooling those kids You get some zeal for whatever job you have whatever work you have whatever it is you're doing you say Why was paul successful and here's what I want you to say People think well paul was successful because he got saved in the holy spirit, but paul would have been successful whatever he did He was succeeding in the jews religion he was succeeding in christianity If they would have let him run on mcdonald's in the first century He wouldn't have had churches all over the mediterranean coast. He would have mcdonald's all over the mediterranean coast You understand what i'm saying It was his character of work That helped him to succeed I'm, just telling you paul's secret to success productive living And that's not something that you're going to get just because you got saved I hope you get saved. That's what you have to begin But please understand that salvation only changes your destination It does not change who you are sanctification does that by the way? That's why it's so silly to tell people if you get saved you're gonna have works. No, you're not Salvation doesn't change you It changes where you're going But you're still who you are And we've got to learn as christians to build our lives on the bible To learn the bible apply the bible live the bible and allow the bible To do a work in our hearts So number one, we see paul's secret to success. We see it there in verses 13 and 14. It's productive living then I want you to notice secondly I gotta all I gotta be done soon in like 15 minutes. So let's move quickly verse 15 Paul's secret to success productive living you if you're writing these down number two paul's secret to success pleasing god Notice verse 15, but when it pleased god You see that? When it pleased god who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace I won't have you turn there, but it reminds me of the verse in jeremiah where jeremiah says that he was called from his mother's womb You know that god has a purpose and a plan and he's had a purpose for And a plan for your life from your mother's womb God has a purpose and god has a plan for you You And he has a plan for you and paul says says when it pleased god who separated me from my mother's womb He said from my mother's womb. It was god's plan that I would get saved It was god's plan. Paul says that I would go into the ministry and called me by his grace He said here's what paul said my life pleased god Now i'd like you to run some verses Let's look at them quickly colossians if you would colossians one, you're in galatians efeasians philippians colossians colossians chapter one Galatians efeasians philippians colossians colossians 1 9 for this cause we also since the day we heard it Do not cease to pray for you and to desire. I want you to see it colossians 1 9 and to desire That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom in spirit and understanding Paul says Since the day we heard it We do not cease to pray for you He said here's our desire for you that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding Why why do you want that paul verse 10 that ye might walk worthy of the lord? unto all pleasing You know that when you walk worthy of the lord Your life will be pleasing to all He said that you might walk worthy of the lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god Look at first thessalonians 4 you there in colossus. Just flip over first thessalonians 4 look at verse 1 first thessalonians 4 4 1 furthermore First thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1 furthermore when we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the lord Jesus that all ye have received of us notice what he says He says That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk look at it and please god How you have to walk and please god so we would abound more and more If you want to succeed in life I'm talking to christians I I can't put this outline into a book and sell it in the secular world because it doesn't apply to the secular world It applies to you Because you got to remember that when we got saved we we got a heavenly father And now we play the game of life by a different set of rules And you may not like it and you may not understand this when you see it out in the secular world But if you're going to succeed in life, I don't care what area you're considering You cannot succeed in the christian life without pleasing god You must walk worthy of the lord until all pleasing How ye ought to walk and to please god now here here's here's what most of us want to do We want to walk in such a way that we please ourselves Go to second timothy chapter 2 you're there in first thessalonians past second thessalonians past first timothy into second timothy second timothy chapter 2 Second timothy chapter 2 verse 4 Second Second timmy 2-4 no man that warth This is referring to a soldier who's going to war no man that warth He says if you're gonna war and by the way When you got saved whether you realize it or not, you got enlisted in the army of the lord of jesus christ We are engaged in spiritual warfare and paul says no man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life Here's what he's saying. If you're gonna go to war you can't be entangled in the affairs of life I mean we understand that on a practical level if a soldier is going to go overseas to fight a war He can't be fighting war while worried about What's going on? In in in the super bowl, you understand that? No, no man that warth entangle of himself with the affairs of this life notice that he may please him Who have chosen him to be a soldier You say what was paul's secret to success paul's secret to success was the realization That he had to live a life that would please god By the way, i'm not preaching on this but please understand this that is also the secret to fulfillment When you can live your life in such a way where you know that you are pleasing the lord None of us are perfect. We are all sinners None of us none of us have attained as we've been learning on sunday mornings But when you can lay your head on the pillow at night and say i'm right with the lord I'm right with god. I'm right with others and i'm pleasing my heavenly father And you are fulfilling God's will for your life You don't have to turn there. I'll just read this for you. Revelation 4 11 says thou art worthy o lord To receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created You know that you and I were created by god to bring pleasure to him And here's what i'm saying You want to succeed? You and I need to learn to get up every day and say I want to live a life that is pleasing to god And when we When we frame every decision we make by that frame When we look at every choice we make through that lens I'm talking about everything You have a decision to make what am I going to wear? You should ask yourself is what i'm wearing pleasing to god? Is what i'm watching pleasing to the lord Is what i'm listening to pleasing to the lord? Is where i'm going pleasing to the lord is who i'm with pleasing the lord? Is my life pleasing to god because paul said I live for the pleasure of the lord He said I serve for his pleasure We see the secret to his success was not only productive living But it was pleasing god number three go back to galatians if you would galatians chapter one look at verse 16 We saw productive living we saw pleasing god. Here's number three paul's secret to success preaching christ Preaching christ galatians 1 16 notice what he says two. He says this is why god saved me To reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen Not only was this god's will for paul's life, let me just go ahead and let you know This is god's will for every single person's life God did not save you so that you can sit there till you die and then go to heaven God saved you so that you can learn and grow why so I can have a better life He wants you to have a better life But you know the main reason that god wants you to have a better life Is that you can be equipped to go over each other's with the gospel? To reveal his son in me I might preach him among the heathens and this was something that captivated paul. This was something that he became Obsessive about this objective of reaching his area and reaching the world with the gospel You don't have to turn here But in acts 20 and verse 31 the bible says paul says therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years He said I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears Paul was a man who was consumed by this objective paul understood that to preach the gospel Was his goal and his goal was to preach the gospel to as many people as possible as quickly as possible As effectively as possible as simply as possible and what to god there'd be christians tonight that would say I want to make that my goal I want to give my life to reach people with the gospel of jesus christ to fulfill the great commission to reach people and teach people Paul's secret to success he understood was preaching christ That there's really nothing else to do Nothing else of value I want you to notice fourthly tonight go back to galatians chapter one You say pastor it's already 809 and you've been hitting these one verse at a time We're about to hit a chunk right here. All right, we're going to take care of a big chunk For those of you that are worried I said number one paul's secret to success was productive living Number two pleasing god number three preaching christ number four a private walk I want you to notice verse 16 He says to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen Paul's talking about when he got saved He said he revealed his son in me Notice that paul understood that he did not get saved to sit. He said he revealed his son in me He saved me that I might preach him among the heathen and then he says this Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood The word confer means to have a discussion with or to seek opinion with the term flesh and blood means human beings Here's what paul says when I got saved Immediately I conferred not he said let me tell you what I didn't do I didn't go and ask my friends and family what they thought about it He said immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood He said neither went I up to jerusalem to them which were apostles before me Now, please understand something paul Was something of we could call a celebrity Do you understand that Every christian knew who paul was Not only did all the christians know who paul was all the enemies of christianity and the jews of the day knew who paul was Paul was the hero to the enemies and he was the villain to the christians He was known people knew who he was He was somewhat we might call him a little bit of a celebrity Now don't now here's the interesting thing When paul got saved he did the opposite of what so-called celebrity conversions do today Because when paul got saved he says I immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither went I up to jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. You say what'd you do paul? He says but I went into arabia You know what arabia is? It's a desert It's a desert I went to arabia and returned again unto damascus I want you to understand that the first thing that paul does according to galatians is he went off alone He got alone with god What do we do with celebrity conversions they get saved and then we you know have them do a rap concert at joel osteen's church Right I mean as soon as any any celebrity and christians are always, you know, they're always so Um, just like hungry for any celebrity to get saved. It doesn't matter what celebrity is It could have been from like the 80s. He's like not even famous anymore, but it's just like look, you know Don't don't be you know be impressed with christ And you say well, what do you think about celebrity conversions, you know what I think I think they should go into the desert of arabia And get discipled And read the bible and pray Paul When he said neither went I to jerusalem to them which were impossible for me But I went into arabia and returned again into damascus then after three years notice after three years I went to jerusalem to see peter He spent three years out in the desert Arabia and damascus, but he spent three years not in the limelight He didn't go just go straight into ministry He spent three years learning growing being discipled then after three years I went up to jerusalem to see peter and abode with him 15 days But other of the apostles saw anon saved james the lord's brother Now the things which I write unto you behold before god I lie not afterwards I came into the regions of syria and silicia and was Notice verse 22 and was unknown by faith unto the churches of judea which were in christ I want you to notice that paul understood something that if he was going to succeed in the christian life He had to learn to get along with god The first thing he does he doesn't go to see the big shots in jerusalem, but he goes to arabia To a desert The opposite of what you and I would want to do We live in the society where nobody wants to get alone Nobody wants to be alone with their thoughts Everyone has to always be listening to something and watching something and something in their ears and something I mean people can't just think it's like they're afraid to be alone with their own brain At any given moment you I mean if you watch people and it's like if they're just standing it's like they got to pull out the phone Why don't you just think for a second And here Paul said he goes through and here's all i'm telling you Here's all I want you to understand in the bible There seems to be this indication in this tradition that whenever god was going to use somebody mightily they got alone with god Think of moses spent 40 years in egypt But when he left egypt the bible tells us he spent another 40 years on the back side of the desert Alone with god Before god used him mightily to bring the children of israel out of egypt Think about john the baptist He spent his life out in the deserts of judia Before god mightily used him as the great john the baptist think about our own savior the lord Jesus christ right before he launched his ministry. What does he do? He spends 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness by himself I'm, just here to tell you that If our public lives are going to be effective They must be an outgrowth of our private lives Did you hear what I said See we live in the social media society That wants to talk you we want to put everything out there. Look how great I am Look how great I am. Look at all these things I always think it's funny because people always want to tell me and people it seems to me and I know I don't call them out I just make a mental note But people always want to tell me all these impressive things they're gonna do And I always think to myself that's not fair, you know That's not fair because you're sitting here in front of this crowd telling all these people That you're gonna do all these amazing things and you're getting all the wow Amazing, you're wonderful and that lasts for like three days Here's all i'm saying is whatever amazing thing you're gonna do How about you do it for three years and then talk to me about it? How about you go off in the desert somewhere and you go off by yourself somewhere and you get along with god somewhere? And you get the spirit of god somewhere and then and then you don't have to tell me how great you are i'll see it I'm just here to tell you that our private walk must feed our public walk And look and and and in your christian life you need you need to develop a personal time with god You need to go off into the wilderness of arabia every day With your king james bible and get alone with god And get alone with the holy spirit And read the bible and study the bible and memorize the bible and pray and walk with god And then that private life that private life It'll manifest in its public life Somebody said this to me recently and I and they meant it as an as a compliment. I took it as a compliment and I appreciate it but they they they were asking me about certain things and About our church and and they said I can tell you study the bible I can tell by the preaching you know, i've been to some other church and I think myself where do the pastor get this sermon from? You know, but here here's the thing isn't that true? I mean you I've listened to guys preach before and I think myself good night Downloaded this from some website And and and that's easy to understand that as a pastor, but let me tell you something Some mothers are better mothers Some fathers are better fathers Some husbands are better husbands Some wives are better mothers Some husbands are better husbands Some wives are better wives Some pastors are better pastors and some church members are better church members Because they know the bible Because they get along with god Because they study they study the word of god They're not perfect, but they learn the bible. They apply the bible. They live out the bible and it's evident in their life You want to know paul's secret to success Before he got on stage and before he got in the limelight he got off stage and got along with god And then number five I said number one productive living number two pleasing god number three preaching christ number four private walk number five a powerful testimony Notice what he says in verses 23 and 24 But they that hurt only He said I don't have to go tell them they hurt Look, look, you don't have to tell people you don't have to tell people how great you are if you're that great. We'll see it But they had heard only That he which persecuted us in times past now Preacheth the faith which once he destroyed They they paul Just kept working hard kept getting up every day and wanting to please god preached christ had a private walk And that turned into a powerful testimony And they heard that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches faith which once he destroyed and here was their response Verse 24 and they glorified god God He said and they glorified god Don't don't miss this I think the most powerful words in this whole chapter are the last two words In the last verse of the chapter he says and they glorified god in me I just I wonder what would happen I wonder what would happen in sacramental, california I wonder what would happen in your job I want what happened with your family I wonder what would happen in this church if there was a group of people Who decided and said i'm gonna get up every day and spend time with god and get along with god And get some private time with god and read the bible and pray And try to learn the bible and try to live the bible and i'm gonna try to live a life that is pleasing to god I'm gonna preach christ when it's possible and i'm gonna live for god. I'm gonna be productive i'm gonna work hard I Think there would be people who would watch your lives Who would watch our lives? And they would glorify god in us That's amazing See paul's secret to success you say what was paul's secret to success god He loved god he served god he walked with god he lived for god He did it all for god And god blessed him along the way. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly father Lord we do. Thank you for the apostle paul So convicting So convicting To see his life To read about his life So convicting to think there's so much more we could do Lord I pray you'd help us to be people Who would get alone with you Go off into some desert in arabia by ourselves with our bible And say I want to hear from god I want to learn god's word. I want to live it. I want to live a life that's pleasing to god I want to preach christ and be productive And lord, I just believe that People will see our lives and say wow And they glorify god in it. Lord. I pray you'd help us to be those types of people Help us to realize that you are no respecter of persons The success that paul had was success that we can all have Was success that we can all have And lord, I pray you'd help us with that in the match this name of price we pray Amen, we're gonna have brother moses come up and lead us in a final song. I think we're preparing for baptism tonight So we'll sing as we prepare for that Please send your song books page number 45 We're gonna sing when I can read my title clear Here Page number four five And let's go ahead and sing that out on the first when I can read my title clear And Eyes and why my weeping eyes And why my weeping eyes Engage in my regards And face World then I can smile at satan's rage May Home my god, I have my all My god My god There shall I bathe my weary soul Across my peaceful Cross Okay, turn your song books to page number Page number 27 We're gonna sing the old rugged cross So Page number two seven and let's sing it out on the first on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering And I love that old cross where the nearest and best for a world of Sinners was slain So i'll cherish the old rugged cross Tell my trophies at last I lay down I Will And exchange it someday Amen all right well we have james visa coming for baptism Uh this evening and james has come into our church for a few weeks now, and we appreciate him He he has an injury. He had his uh shoulder torn out of its socket So, um, but he's getting baptized but that's why he's holding his arm just so you're aware of that We'll try to go smoothly. All right But james have you accepted the lord jesus christ as your personal savior? Yes All right, james by your profession of faith I baptized you my brother in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost Married in the likeness of his death raised to walk a newness of life God bless you All right, well, thank you very much for being here tonight we want to just uh, I just want to remind you a couple things. First of all, don't forget Of course We have soul winning this week love you to be a part of that and if you're a lady and you'd like to help volunteer With the ladies tee we've got sign-up sheets in the main foyer If you want to go by there and sign up, we would appreciate your help with that If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know and we'll have brother moses, uh dismiss us in the word of prayer Let's pray Father god, thank you so much for this church lord. Thank you for the wonderful book of galatians I pray that as we go home, we'll be able to ponder upon that I pray that you'd uh, keep us safe on the way home in jesus name. I pray. Amen So So