Paul and Peter and the Gospel: Part 1

I thought that we would start with a little bit of a review to bring us up to where we're at today. I put out a pamphlet there. In our introduction, we'll be going over several verses. And instead of asking you to look them all up, if you're like me, I sit there and let somebody else do it. But this way we'll be able to take a look at each verse. So we'll get started.

In the first two chapters of Galatians, Paul is defending the fact that his apostleship and calling came directly from the Lord Jesus Christ and not from any man or group of men. And we find this in Galatians... Actually, I don't have that. Is it on your sheet? Yeah. Okay. Does somebody want to read that? All an apostle, not sent from men, nor through the agency of men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. All right. After Saul's conversion, the Lord said to Ananias, Something interesting that I find in this verse, most people when they read this verse, they say God has called Paul to the Gentiles.

But there's more to it than that. He is also called to bear witness to the kings. And not only that, to the sons of Israel. So God is not only called just to the Gentiles, He's called to the sons of Israel. That's why every time Paul goes to a new city, he starts off in the synagogue. This is something a lot of us probably don't... I didn't realize this for a long time, but his calling is also to Israel.

Saul did not consult with flesh and blood, nor anyone in Jerusalem, but was taught directly from Christ in the Arabian desert. And we find this in Galatians chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. Can I get somebody to read that? Do you have that on your sheets? Yes. Because I don't have that sheet up here. Oh, OK. When God would have set me apart, even from my mother's womb, Okay.

It wasn't until three years after three years that he finally met with Peter and James in Jerusalem in 1st Galatians 1.18-19. Someone read that for me? Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

All right. The other apostles feared him, And the Hellenistic Jews wanted him dead. So they sent him off to Caesarea and then on to Parsis. We find that in Acts chapter 9. So anyone who could read that for me? Verses 26 through 30. When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles, and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. Thank you. Now, it wasn't until 14 years after his conversion that he finally met with the pillars of the church in Jerusalem and submitted to them the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles.

And that we find in Galatians 2.2. This happened when Barnabas and Saul took contributions to the Jerusalem church for relief from the famine in Judea.

Can we get someone to read Acts 11.27-30?

In those days, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the time of Claudius. So each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea. They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.

Okay, but false brethren were there to condemn the liberty which we have in Christ Jesus in order to bring us into bondage. Something that's important in the book of Galatians is we actually have two types of people condemning all here. We have the Judaizers, which could be unsaved or saved believers saying that you have to be, you have to follow the Mosaic law in order to be saved. But then there's others who say, yes, we are saved by faith, but in order to live, out your Christian life, you have to follow the law. And as we move on in Galatians, we're gonna find out that chapters three and four will talk about our justification, and chapters five and six will talk about the liberty that we have in Christ. Saul does not put up with these Judaizers for even an hour so that the truth of the gospel would remain with the Galatians. Saul now declares how God called him an apostle to the Gentiles and Peter an apostle to the Jews.

This brings us to our passage today. Now last week, Myles wanted to jump a verse forward It's not allowed, right? It's not allowed, but it's what he should have done. Now, our passage today is actually Galatians 2, verse 8-10, but I want to jump backwards, just to keep everything in context.

So, starting in verse 7, but on the contrary, Seeing that I have been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.

And recognizing the grace that had been given me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barthas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do. Normally I would go line through line through this passage, but it's obvious, except for remembering the poor, there's just one truth that stands out here. Just one truth. And that's that the leaders of the Jerusalem Church agreed that Paul's ministry should be towards the circumcised and Paul's to the Gentiles. And the Jerusalem Church accepted this.

So instead of line by line, we will look at three aspects of today's passage. Number one, the timing of this meeting, which is still somewhat a review, the people involved in the meeting, and then three, the outcome of this meeting. Starting off with the timing of the meeting. After Saul's conversion, he visited Jerusalem five times in the Book of Acts.

And this is really important because there's a lot of people that do not really know where this fell in the history of the early church. The first time Paul went to Jerusalem was three years after his conversion. He met with Peter and James in Jerusalem. After spending three years in Damascus, some of that time in the Arabian desert, he escaped the city in the middle of the night, and he went to Jerusalem.

Most Bible teachers think that Saul's public ministry started when he got to Antioch, but that's not true. Saul had been proclaiming Jesus as the Christ during those three years in Damascus, and then they plotted against him to put him to death. Saul wasn't just silent in Damascus.

He was out preaching Christ as the Messiah. And at the same time, I believe he was also spending time in the Arabian desert, learning from the Lord. In Jerusalem, he tried to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. Barnabas, who befriended Saul, introduced him to Peter and James, but to no other apostles. But he boldly spoke out in the name of Jesus while he was in Jerusalem, but the Hellenistic Jews wanted him dead. Most people think he just went to see Peter and James, But he actually had a ministry there. He was preaching to the Hellenistic Jews, so much that they got upset at him as well.

In Acts 9.28 we read, and he was with them, that's Peter and James, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. I think we learned that he only spent about 14 or 15 days in Jerusalem. But during those 14 and 15 days, he was out preaching Christ as the Messiah. And then he was ushered off to Caesarea and then on to Tarsus for several years.

While in Tarsus, he was actually actively preaching the gospel. People will say he went up there and just stood around and did nothing. I've heard preachers say he just sat there waiting for the Lord to call him. into the ministry. But that's not true.

We read in Galatians 1.23, but only they kept hearing, this is while he was in Tarsus, they kept hearing, he who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.

And they were glorifying God because of me. So Paul's ministry actually started in Damascus, not on that first missionary journey. Fourteen years after his conversion, this is the second time he went to Jerusalem. He was in Jerusalem once again. The church in Antioch was thriving, especially the Gentile converts.

Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to investigate what was going on up there. the heads of the church in Jerusalem saying, hey, there's a lot of stuff going on up there. Barnabas, you get up there and find out what's going on. And when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, not the works, but the grace of God and how the church was growing, he went to Tarsus to find Saul to help out in the ministry. When Agabus arrived, The church sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem to deliver relief for the famine in Judea. And it was at this time Saul introduced his Gentile ministry in Jerusalem, and that's where we're at in today's passage. A lot of people think that it took place and the Council of Jerusalem after the first missionary journey. As a matter of fact, I really like the NASB. Bob and I, we have a sword fight over this sometimes. Which is best, the NASB or the New King James Version? And I use the word sword as a pun. We're talking about the Bible here. Both versions are great.

But where the NASB falls down, in the editor's notes, they put this as the council in Jerusalem. And that's just not right. So Saul, now called Paul, went to Jerusalem a third time to defend his gospel to the Gentiles in Acts 15. This is known as the Jerusalem Council. This happened at the end of his first missionary journey. So we're not talking about that visit to Jerusalem here. The fourth time Paul went to Jerusalem was at the end of Paul's second missionary journey, and he stopped by Jerusalem before going back to Antioch.

If all of you, if some of you tune into our study and acts up at Bob's place, and we just finished covering that just a couple of days ago. Very interesting discussion we had. If you're not zooming in or meeting with Bob, you're really missing out on a great study in the book of Acts, what happened in the early church. And I invite you If you want, get with Bob and he'll put you on his list or invite you up to his place. But it is a great study. One of my favorites. Even it's more favorite than what I'm doing right here. That's great. The King James Version indicates that there was some feast.

But most manuscripts leave that out. Yes, Bob? Just to mention that that fourth trip to Jerusalem was a very brief one. We have very little detail about that trip. Yeah. The way the Word of God reads, he landed in Caesarea, went up to the church, which is uphill, and then right away went to Antioch. So we're not sure exactly what he did in Jerusalem.

Now the fifth visit, we're going over these pretty fast here because this is long past what we're spending today. The last visit recorded in Acts was at the end of the third missionary journey before he was arrested and sent off to Caesarea and then on to Rome. Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, where he wrote the four prison epistles. Our passage today has us in Jerusalem at Saul's second visit, and that's important.

Now let's look at the people involved in the meeting. Along with Paul and Barnabas, we have the reputed pillars of the church. We have James, Cephas, and John. It's never really indicated, but it seems like James was probably the head of that church in Jerusalem. All three were considered apostles, actually. Let's look at James first. Although not one of the twelve, James was an apostle due to his qualifications, just as Barnabas was. For a long time, I wasn't sure that Barnabas was even an apostle.

But because of our Acts study up at Bob's, we find out that when they were in Lystra, a lot of the people thought that they were gods. And he had to put a stop to that right away when he said, but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it, you know this term, apostles, both Barnabas and Paul, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd crying out and saying, men, we are you. Why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you." So we see that Barnabas was an apostle. There were many apostles. I've often felt that there's two classes of apostles. I call them Apostles with a capital A and Apostles with a small a. I mentioned this once in our class up at Bob's house, and I got some weird looks.

But Ron Merriman uses the terms strict sense and loose sense. I got a hold of Ron, and he gave me permission to print something out of his Galatian book. And you have that in front of you. And we're not really going to go into this, but you can take that home and see what Ron Merriman has to say. But where I call the Apostles with a capital A, which are the Twelve Apostles, he calls that the strict sense. And then all the other apostles, which I call a small way, he uses the term loose sense. And I'll just let you look at this later. Bob? Yes? Where's Apollos on this list? He's not listed here. I think there were a lot of apostles that Ron Merriman doesn't list.

Whenever a church commissioned a man to go out on a mission, that was what an apostle was. So the original 12 were commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ while he was still alive. They witnessed his resurrection. But later on, the individual churches would commission men to go out on a mission. And this is what an apostle actually is, a man that is sent out. A lot of us. The 12 apostles... Yes? We know that the original 12 had gifts of healing and stuff like that. Did the other apostles have those same gifts?

Well, you know, I think... I'm not really sure, but I think they might have in the early church, but once... Once the early church was established and we had the completion of the canon, all that faded away. Anybody want to comment on that? Unfortunately, there are some denominations that believe they have apostles today. That's right. In error. It's pretty sad. No, that isn't right. It's sad.

Yes, Bob? I know you need to go on, so I'll make this point briefly, but we know that Aquila and Priscilla educated Apollos, and he was sent on to teach the gospel, was he not? Yes. Yes. So I can't believe, but anyway. I don't know if Paul was an apostle or not, but even being trained by Aquila and Priscilla, it was through that local church in Ephesus.

So, we'll go on. The 12 apostles are distinct as they are the foundation of the church appointed by Christ. So that is a spatial group of apostles. And what makes them Spatial, another reason is they also support the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. I don't know if you're aware of that. We read in Revelation 21, 14, and the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So they had a very distinct relationship that many of the other apostles didn't have.

James was the half-brother of Jesus, the son of Joseph of Mary. In Matthew 13, we read, it's not this the carpenter's son? It's not his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us?

Jesus became a believer after Christ's resurrection, and was one of the early witnesses to that resurrection. In John 7, 5, for not even his brothers were believing in him at that time. None of his brothers came to know the Lord until after the resurrection. Families are tough, right?

In 1 Corinthians 15, we read, he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remained until now. They were still alive during this time, but some had fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. And last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

James was the head of the Jerusalem church, and he wrote the first book of the New Testament, and was martyred around 62 AD. My favorite early church historian, Josephus, says that he was martyred around 62. And if it's good enough for Josephus, They might be good enough for me.

Let's look at John. John was one of the apostles with his brother James. This is not the same James as we were previously talking about. As apostles, they were known as the Sons of Thunder. They got that name because of their personalities. Those two brothers, they act rashly, recklessly, aggressively. They were actually the sons of thunder.

In Mark 9, a man was casting out demons in the name of Christ, and John said, hey, you've got to stop doing that. Don't be doing that. Christ rebukes him. In Luke 9, they wanted to call down fire from heaven and destroy the Samaritans. And once again, Christ says, no, we're not going to be doing that. So we see how they got the name Sons of Thunder.

John was part of Jesus' inner circle, along with Peter and James. The three of them were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, speaking with Moses and Elijah. John is known as the Apostle of Love. This is evident from his gospel. His gospel was completely different than the other three synoptic gospels. And he was certainly the apostle of love.

Just before Christ went to the cross at that last Passover supper, it was John who laid his head on the shoulder of Christ. Also, He's the only one that followed Christ to the cross. All the other apostles disappeared. He's the only one that showed up.

And, of course, we read that, but standing by the cross of Jesus was his mother, Mary. When Jesus then saw his mother and the disciples whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to John, Behold your mother.

From that hour, John took her into his own household. He was the author of five books in the New Testament, which of course is the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and the book of Revelation. Extrabiblical history states that he took Mary, the mother of Jesus, and they moved to Ephesus, where she spent the rest of her life in Ephesus. Later, the Roman government exiled John to the island of Patmos, where he wrote Revelation.

Now let's look at Barnabas. We've talked a lot about Paul in our classes, but not that much about Barnabas. He was a Jewish Levite who was from Cyprus named Joseph. We first hear about him in Acts 4.36. Now Joseph, a Levite of superior Cyperian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, he got his name changed by the apostles, which is translated means son of encouragement, who owned a track of land, sold it, and brought the money, and he laid it at the apostles' feet. Normally, Levites are not allowed to own land. If you study the Old Testament, all the land was divided up among all the 12 tribes except the tribe of Levi. They were individually put into each tribe. They didn't own any land. Shortly after Pentecost, the Jerusalem believers decided to pool their resources together, and Barnabas sold some of his real estate and gave it to the apostles.

Now, was this something like a commune? I've often wondered that over the years. You know, when Christ commissioned his disciples to go out into the world and preach the gospel, a lot of them just hung around Jerusalem for a long time. And I'm not so sure What a lot of them did in Jerusalem was what the Lord would have wanted them to do. I'm not sure about this, putting all your finances together and becoming, quote, a commune. But that's up in the air. It was common back then to rename those who started a new phase in their life who were called on a lifetime mission.

That's how Barnabas got his name. Joseph got the name Barnabas, son of encouragement, by the apostles because he was willing to help and do whatever was needed in the church. In Acts 11, we read, the church sent Barnabas off to Antioch, and when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them with all the resolute heart to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith." This can be seen when Barnabas supported the struggling church in Jerusalem. He was the son of encouragement.

When Saul came to Jerusalem the first time, it was Barnabas who supported him. It was Barnabas who brought Saul to Antioch from Tarsus. It was Barnabas who mentored Saul on the first missionary journey. If you read throughout the book of Acts, you're going to find that the first several cities they went to, we always read Barnabas and Saul. Then suddenly in Lystra, it changes. Right when Saul is reading, we first hear that he's called Paul. From then on out, it's called, they're referred to as Paul and Barnabas. But to begin with, it was Barnabas who mentored Saul.

After the first missionary journey, Barnabas took his cousin John Mark under his wing and mentored him. Barnabas is mentioned just one other time when Paul argues for the church to support financially those who ministered to them. extra-biblical history has Barnabas evangelized in North Africa, especially Alexandria, and then retiring to his hometown in...

Can I pronounce that word? Anyway, the island of Cyprus. Actually, if you tune in the next time we meet with Bob, this is right where we're going to be. Let's look at Peter. Concerning his name and this also is concerning the names of all the Apostles Getting his name changed.

He was born Simeon Bar Yonah, which is his Hebrew name Jesus renames him Cephas Which is Aramaic for rock and of course rock is Greek for Petros, which is where we get the name Peter You notice that Paul refers to Peter as Cephas many times. I don't really think Paul and Peter were that well acquainted with each other during this time. I'm sure they knew of each other, but they didn't run around in the same circles. So Paul, being a Roman citizen, used the name Cephas instead of the name Peter. His birth name, Simeon Bar-Jonah, or Simon Bar-Jonah, means Simon, the son of John. So the word Bar is the son of, and Jonah is another word for John.

And if Peter was alive today, living here in Denver, and you wanted to get his telephone number, look him up in the telephone book, if you even have a telephone book, what would you look under it? Anybody have it? His name would be here in America? By looking at this, well... Johnson. Simon Johnson. He lived in Capernaum with his wife and ran a fishing company with his partners, James and John. Once again, not the same James, that's in Galatians chapter 2. Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, brought Peter, his brother, to meet Jesus. Later on, on the shores of Galilee, Jesus found Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and said, follow me, I will make you fishers of men.

These four, along with Philip and Bartholomew, make up the first six apostles. For the next three years, Peter became the spokesman for the 12, and was the first to confess that Jesus was the Messiah. In Matthew chapter 16, we read, he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

When it comes to the history of the early church in the Book of Acts, we're not really sure what happened first. We know that Peter went to the Gentiles in Caesarea. But Peter taking the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile, or Saul going to the Gentiles, we're not really sure the timeline on that. They may have occurred about the same time. And if we look at Acts chapters 9, 10, 11, it appears that both Peter and Saul's accounts paralleled each other. with possibly Saul being in Tarsus at the time Peter went to Caesarea to see Cornelius.

We could spend hours on Peter's life, but because of the context of Galatians 2, we'll just focus on his personality. Now remember, this is only because of the context here in this chapter. Although used mightily by God, Peter could be overenthusiastic, strong-willed, impulsive, and at times pretty stubborn. Here's a few examples of that. Early on, Peter thinks he can walk on the water without anyone's help. Well, he found out that he couldn't.

Jesus speaks of his death, and Peter rebukes him. And of course, When Peter rebukes him, Jesus immediately says, get thee behind me, Satan. Peter tells Jesus to wash my whole body, not just my feet. At that last supper, just before he went to the cross, Jesus gives them an illustration of what they must do, and one was He wanted to wash the feet of all the disciples.

He started, and Peter says, hey, now wait a minute. I should be washing your feet. And Christ said, no, no, this is an example for you. And Peter says, well, if you're going to wash my feet, let's wash my whole body. Let's do that. And of course, Christ says, no, your whole body doesn't need washed.

You are already clean. We just have to take care of your feet. And this is a tremendous example of our daily life as believers already clean. But throughout our life, we need to continually have our feet cleaned to be in fellowship with Christ. So that's a good example of that.

Peter, along with two others, they fall asleep while watching Jesus in the garden. is about to be crucified. He doesn't want the army coming in and killing him before he has a chance to get to the cross. So Jesus says, wait with me while I go and pray. Of course, Peter and the other two disciples fall asleep.

He actually, when they do show up to take him, he cuts off the ear of the high priest's slave in the garden. So we're getting a pretty good idea of who Peter is at this point. And then Peter denies three times that he ever knew Jesus after the trial. And then later on, he refuses food lowered on a sheet by God in a vision in Joppa three different times. This is who Peter is at this time. Finally, Paul has to deal with him in Antioch.

And the reason I bring this personality up is because next week we're going to be dealing with Paul and Peter in Antioch. Now, something that was brought up just the other night with Bob at his house is this Peter is not the same Peter that wrote 1 and 2 Peter. Peter has grown immensely in the Lord after this. And we'll be talking a lot about that next week.

Now let's look at Paul. After the last several weeks, we've pretty much covered who Paul is. Unless you've been asleep, we've talked about Paul quite a bit. And every so often, Sue, you need to nudge Wayne. I don't mind if he sleeps, but if he starts snoring, he's going to start disturbing a lot of us. Which brings us to our last point. the outcome of the meeting.

It's obvious that Peter's calling is to the Jews, the circumcised, and Paul is to the Gentiles, the uncircumcised. Peter's calling came many years earlier while Christ was still on this earth. Paul's calling came after his conversion in Damascus when the Lord told Ananias, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the sons of Israel.

But take note, and this is important, Paul is still only defending his apostleship here in Galatians 2. Even though Paul speaks of the gospel in verses 1 through 10, his emphasis is on the gospel which I preach. He is still defending his apostleship. We haven't started talking about his doctrine or what this gospel is all about.

And his conclusion in those verses is, yes, the leaders of Jerusalem church have entrusted me with the gospel to the uncircumcised. Can somebody tell me what's the difference between the gospel of the circumcised and the gospel of the uncircumcised? What is that difference? Absolutely none. It's the same gospel, just going to different people.

The same ones who called Peter to the Jews, the same one has called Paul to the Gentiles, and that would be the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 2a, for he, Christ, who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.

They recognized the grace that had been given to Paul. Galatians 2, 9, and recognizing that the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Serb sides. Right here, there's a major turning point in the book of Galatians. Paul has established his apostleship.

Paul, having established his apostleship, will now turn to the second part of Galatians in chapter 3, defending justification by faith alone. But before he does that, Paul must deal with that strong-willed and stubborn Peter in verses 11 through 21, which is what Bob is going to...

So I'll be talking about that next week. Yeah. You and Bob together. Yeah. I'll figure out... Different days. Different times. Who's Bob and who's... Who's on first? Yeah, I don't need to know who I am. Count Bob. Paul's going to deal with that at a different place and time when Peter goes to Antioch, which we will deal with at a different time next week. But before we quit this morning, notice verse 10.

They only ask us to remember the poor the very thing I also was eager to do, which is the main reason they went there in the first place. The reason Agabus came up, he wanted to take contributions down to the board. So that's the main reason he was there. But knowing ahead of time what he was getting into, he took Titus along, because he's going to show that you don't have to be circumcised in order to serve God.

One concern Paul had throughout his ministry was for the well-being of the saints of Jerusalem. This was something he was eager to do, not obligated. In Macedonia and Achaia, which is Greece, there were a great number of Gentiles that supported the Jewish saints in Jerusalem. In Romans 15, we read, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them, for the Gentiles had shared in their spiritual things. They are indebted to minister to them also in material things. This support was for the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, but our support for Israel in general is also brought out in Galatians chapter 3. And this is important as I end.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, in order that Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham, might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The only reason we're here today is because God blessed Abraham. As believers, supporting Israel is just as important today as it was back then. We had the Abrahamic covenant starting 430 years before the Mosaic Law came around, and that covenant is eternal, it's permanent, it's going on throughout the Old Testament, It went on in the early church. It's going on today in the church age. It's going to continue to go on in the millennium. It's going to continue to go on into eternity. So, the last thing I'd like to read is in Genesis 12 to 3.

And God said to Abraham, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you. And the ones who curse you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

We're only here because of the Abrahamic covenant. We need to support Israel, especially what's going on in these last couple of weeks. So, Roger, do you want to close this prayer? Certainly, Father. Lord, we thank you for the blessings we have in our Savior. Father, thank you for our time here in Galatians. Lord, we pray for your will to be accomplished, Lord, in our lives. We pray for your will to be accomplished in today's world, in Israel, in all that they face now. In Christ's name, amen.