GALATIANS 3:1-5

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? All of you saw Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross[when the Holy Spirit worked miracles among you.] 2 I would like you to answer these questions. Did you experience the Holy Spirit coming upon you because you obeyed a religious regulation or because you believed the message you were hearing? 3 Are you foolish enough to believe that you can start following Christ by the power of the Spirit but be completed by adopting a set of religious regulations? 4 Did you suffer so much persecution for nothing? Hopefully it wasn’t for nothing. 5 Does the God who gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you do so as a reward for keeping religious rules or because you believe what you heard?

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

1. Identifying every new piece of stand alone information by placing a forward slash at the end.

e.g. “O foolish Galatians. / Who has put you under a spell? /

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

2. Circling the moderating word or words in each piece of information

e.g. “O foolish Galatians. / Who has put you under a spell? /

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

1. Identifying every new piece of stand alone information by placing a forward slash at the end.

2. Circling the moderating word or words in each piece of information

3. Making summary statements for each piece of information.

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

1. The way the Galatians had allowed the real gospel to be substituted was because they had been FOOLISH.

2. The process was like allowing a magician to come and put them under a spell.

3. All this had happened despite the fact that they had SEEN JESUS being nailed to the cross.

STEP 3SUMMARY STATEMENTS

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

4. Paul asked them some questions to try and show why their experience was so foolish.

5. They had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit by believing what they had heard not by keeping a set of religious rules.

6. They had begun to follow Christ because of the experience of Holy Spirit power and now they were acting as if the completion of that journey would be accomplished by adopting a whole range of cultural religious rituals.

STEP 3SUMMARY STATEMENTS

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

7. They had experienced supernatural suffering (where there was no human explanation as to why they were persecuted) because of what God had done by the Spirit.

8. Paul was worried that they may well have suffered this way without having the opportunity of reaping kingdom of God rewards.

9. The received the Spirit and experienced miracles by believing what they heard, not by adopting culturally derived religious rules

STEP 3SUMMARY STATEMENTS

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

1. What does Paul mean when he says that the Galatian believers had seen Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified?

2. Why was their experience of persecution a testimony to the original gospel being genuine?

3. What is he appealing to in all of these questions?

STEP 4QUESTIONS AND INFO

QUESTION #1: JESUS PUBLICLY PORTRAYED AS CRUCIFIED

OPTIONS:

• Make a guess or take a vote

• Use other references in Scripture to shed light on the meaning.

• Allow the immediate context to testify to the meaning.

QUESTION #2: SUFFERING AS TESTIMONY?

Here is the line up:

• The experience of receiving the Spirit

• The experience of coming to faith in Christ

• ……………suffering………………?????

• Miracles worked by the power of the Spirit

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

In Cyprus a false prophet opposed Paul and tried to persuade the governor to reject what Paul was saying.

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

In Perga John Mark left the group possibly because of fear.

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

In Antioch the Jews incited city leaders to expell Paul and Barnabas.

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

In Iconium the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned the minds against Paul and the believers.

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

In Lystra Jews from Antioch and Iconium won the crowd over and had Paul stoned and left for dead

QUESTION #2: The first experiences of preaching in Galatia Acts 13-14

On the way back Paul’s message: staying true to the faith - we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (14:24)

QUESTION #2: SUFFERING AS TESTIMONY?

The experience of suffering was the result of the kingdom represented by the gospel challenging the incumbent ruling power and resulted in violent opposition in the form of irrational persecution and suffering for the believers.

QUESTION #2: SUFFERING AS TESTIMONY?

The experience of suffering was the result of the kingdom represented by the gospel challenging the incumbent ruling power and resulted in violent opposition in the form of irrational persecution and suffering for the believers.

QUESTION #2: SUFFERING AS TESTIMONY?

Here is the line up:

• Supernatural experience [baptism/Spirit]

• Supernatural experience [born again]

• Supernatural suffering – the power of the gospel challenging the power of the incumbent rule.

NOTICING EVERY WORD that God has spoken

1. What does Paul mean when he says that the Galatian believers had seen Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified?

2. Why was their experience of persecution a testimony to the original gospel being genuine?

3. What is he appealing to in all of these questions?

STEP 4QUESTIONS AND INFO

QUESTION #3: THE POINT OF THE FOUR QUESTIONS

1. The genuine gospel must be established through a supernatural experience of the Holy Spirit.

2. The genuine gospel must be based on a supernatural experience of being born again.

3. The genuine gospel will inevitably challenge the ruling powers in your sphere (family, work etc)

4. The genuine gospel will open the door to signs, wonders and miracles by the Spirit

QUESTION #3: THE POINT OF THE FOUR QUESTIONS

• The genuine gospel must be established through a supernatural experience of the Holy Spirit.

• The genuine gospel must be based on a supernatural experience of being born again.

• The genuine gospel will inevitably challenge the ruling powers in your sphere (family, work etc)

• The genuine gospel will open the door to signs, wonders and miracles by the Spirit

THE FAKE GOSPELWILL NEITHER DEPEND ON

NOR PRESUMEANY OF THESE EXPERIENCES

EMBRACING WHAT GOD IS SAYING

Supernatural experience of being born again?

Supernatural experience of receiving the Spirit?

Supernatural hardships and opposition?

Supernatural miracles

WHAT KIND OF GOSPEL ARE WE PROCLAIMING?

Human reason or Holy Spirit ?

Genuine challenge or watery cultural compromise?

Challenging incumbent authority or trying to avoid confrontation?

Producing miracle changes or cultural transitions