1. Background of Paul:

Paul was born and raised in Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia and one of the greatest learning centers of the Eastern World. Many people had purchased their Roman citizenship. Paul’s parents were Jews, but they had Roman citizenship too. Paul, though a Jew, therefore had both Jewish and Roman citizenship by birth (Acts 22:25-29). He was a Pharisee, a doctor of the Law (Acts 22:3). He completed his studies in Jerusalem under the most famous rabbi of his time, Gamaliel (Acts 23:6).

Saul was his Hebrew name, named after the first king of Israel. But due to his dual citizenship he was called Paul. Some Bible scholars claim he took the name Paul after his conversion.

Even at a very young age he was a very popular leader. In the beginning Paul actually thought that the followers of Christ were dishonoring the true God. So he was actively involved in the persecution of Christians (Acts 22:4). He was present during the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:1).

2. Conversion of Paul:

Paul went to the chief priests for letters of authority to capture the believers (those who follow the Way) in Damascus and bring them to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2).

But on his way to Damascus he was converted by a direct confrontation with the risen Lord. He had to ask, “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:3-5).

By asking that question, Paul discovered the ultimate truth. After his encounter with the risen Lord, Paul remained blind for three days but the Lord sent Ananias to him and he received his sight. Paul was neither one of the twelve who had been with Jesus nor witnessed his resurrection and ascension. He was added into their number (Galatians 1:1). The resurrected Lord commissioned him and the grace of God expressed through Christ authorized him as an apostle and to carry out the gospel to the Gentile world.

3. Christianity won a champion:

The news of Paul’s conversion had come to the Jews as a shock. They saw this young man of great promise united with those whom he formerly persecuted, and fearlessly preaching in the name of Jesus. An ordinary man who left to join the opposing group would not make much difference. Paul was no ordinary man. He was a man of courage, sincere and tireless in everything he did, ever ready to take up responsibilities and filled with great determination. He was among the most learned men. He was endowed with oratory skill and was therefore an eloquent speaker.

The enemies of Christ lost his services. Those to whom he joined gained a great advantage. God in his wisdom and providence did not strike Paul dead on the road to Damascus but converted him. Thus a champion from the side of the enemy was transferred to the side of Christ. As Paul preached Christ in Damascus, all who heard him were amazed. But many hardened their hearts, refusing to respond to his message. Their astonishment at his conversion was changed into intense hatred like that which they had shown toward Jesus. From Damascus he went to Jerusalem. But the disciples hastened his secret escape because the Grecian Jews were conspiring to kill him.

But wherever he went he preached Christ crucified. In the midst all kinds of oppositions he constantly attempted to explain the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the overall God’s plan of redemption. Undeterred by jealousy, false accusations, false teachers and the Judaizers in the churches of various cities, he wholeheartedly carried out the task given to him by the risen Lord.

4. Conclusion:
Paul became Christianity’s chief theologian and committed missionary to the Gentiles. He was beheaded in A.D. 65. He suffered martyrdom at the hand of Emperor Nero, the fifth Roman emperor. For the apostle Paul no sacrifice for the Lord was too great. Not even lying down his life.

Selie Visa

Scripture passage: Galatians 1:6-12

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel – not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell! Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ! Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. For I did not receive it or learn it from any human source; instead I received it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

1. Galatians converts warned:
The words of Paul here may be translated as, “Are you so quickly transferring yourselves– that is, your loyalties to a different gospel?” The Galatians were in the process of defecting, and Paul hoped he was in time to bring them to their senses.

There is only one Gospel, and its trademark is the sufficiency of the shed blood of Christ. Those in Paul’s day who felt it necessary to add circumcision or law-keeping to God’s provision of salvation by grace were not preaching the true Gospel.

Those today who insist that salvation is by grace plus good works are also preaching “a different gospel.”

2. The danger of cultic doctrine:
Many religious sects strongly emphasize righteousness by works. They are highly legalistic and teach, essentially, that man is his own savior. They teach that theirs is the only true Christianity. That they usually have high moral standards and demand much of their members gives these movements an appearance of spirituality.

A churchgoer who is concerned about theological or moral drift in his denomination or local church, but who has little sound biblical understanding, is especially susceptible to the influence of these pseudo-Christian cults.

Unless he is well grounded in Scripture, has a knowledge of the heresies of the sect involved, and is prepared to witness strongly for the Gospel, he is better off politely declining to talk with cultic missionaries.

3. To back out or take a stand?
We should be patient with those who disagree with us on such issues as church government, free will and election, baptism, etc. Christians who are equally sincere and spiritual have honest differences of opinion on these matters. But when crucial points of doctrine are involved– the deity of Christ, His atoning death and bodily resurrection, the inspiration of the Bible, and the like– we are to take an uncompromising stand.

4. False doctrine sends people to hell:
As he indicated in his epistle to Corinth, Paul was much aware of the dangers of personality cults (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

Often through no fault of a Christian leader, certain members of his immature followers begin to think that they can do no wrong. They begin to measure the Word by their favorite preacher rather than measuring a preacher by the Word. Paul wanted the Galatian believers to understand that the truth of his message was not based on the wisdom or authority of any man, including himself.

“But even if we ((Paul, Barnabas, Silas, or any apostle) or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! (Galatians 1:8)

Whoever spread any gospel but the true one of salvation by faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, should be considered accursed. His leadership should be rejected and his teaching opposed as strongly as possible.

Because the preaching of a false doctrine sends people to hell, this offense is heinous in the sight of God. There is no room for tolerance in dealing with false teachers, since precious souls for whom Christ died are at stake.

5. Paul- ever faithful to his Master:
It responding to the accusations made by Paul’s enemies that he was trying to please man rather than God, Paul says, in effect, “In saying things like these, does it sound like I am trying to win man’s approval? Regardless of what people say, all I want is to please Christ, whose bond-slave I am, and to be loyal to His Gospel at any cost.”

Having warned that to trifle with the Gospel is a serious offense against both man and God, Paul describes the manner in which the uniqueness of the Gospel was revealed to him and preached by him. Paul gave all his allegiance to his Lord, Jesus Christ. He never felt the need to “butter up” any human being. He often called himself “Christ’s bond-servant” or a “steward” whose responsibility was to be faithful to his Master and to seek to please Him alone. He wrote, “For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)

Paul has a sole purpose, to serve Christ by winning people to Him. We should be as winsome and pleasing as self-forgetfulness can make us, and this Paul was. But he strongly denounced sinful compromise. Far from flattering people, Paul preached a Gospel that humbled them.

6. Paul- commissioned by God not man:
Paul’s authority as an apostle stands or falls on the question of his teachings had been revealed to him directly by God or taught to him by other men. If his message was straight from God, obviously he was in a position to speak with with more authority than if he merely proclaimed what someone else had told him. He goes on to prove that it was impossible for him to have been taught by the other apostles at Jerusalem.

Paul’s doctrine was not according to man. It was not the kind of truth that man’s mind would ever have imagined. It came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. The veil that hides Christ from mortal view, was drawn aside for Paul to see.

Prior to his encounter with the risen Lord on Damascus road, Paul had doubtless known a great deal about Christianity. But only after Christ was revealed to him did his whole life changed.

Conclusion:

The whole of Scripture, and only the Scripture, is God’s revelation to man. If we want to avoid the Galatians’ heresy, we must master the Word of God. Most Christians spend very little time systematically studying the Bible– or even reading it. Pastors and preachers study the Word to prepare their sermons. Few of those who regularly attend an adult Sunday School class prepare their lessons in advance. Always remember that even the best Bible teachers in the world are no substitute for personal study of the Word of God and meditation on it.

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1) Scripture passages:
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” (Exodus 20:17)

1 Timothy 6:6
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

2) Brief introductory note:
In the final commandment of the Ten Commandments (The Decalogue) the key word “covet” is repeated, emphasizing its importance. The word is used in both positive and negative senses. In its positive sense, the word simply means “a strong desire.” Used in the negative sense, the word means “a strong desire for something we have no right to have.”

The last commandment of the Tenth Commandment is not forbidding strong desire in general. It’s the object of the strong desire which crosses the line into coveting. That is why specific objects are named in the verse: “I have no right to possess my neighbour’s wife. Or his house. Or his servants. Or his animals.”

3) We are unhappy and miserable:
If things could make us happy, we’d be in paradise every day. We think “more is better.” It seems the more we have, the less we like it. If having more would make us happy, we would never need the tenth commandment. It is written for unhappy people. If more can make us happy, we are living in an age of limitless things we can have like never before in human history. There are so many brands and models and designs of mobile phones. There are so many luxury cars you can choose from. You can have a huge flat screen TV in your homes and feel like you are in a the best movie hall. Ordinary people have become millionaires within months. From expensive perfumes to designer clothes or even shoes or beds or wrist watches, there is more than you can buy and keep. Yet, people are feeling empty and miserable in spite of having money and almost everything that money can buy.

We think to ourselves, “If only I had……” We can fill the blank with so many things, a new house, a new wife, a new job, a new career, a new start in life. Oh how happy we’d be… If only!

No wonder we’re unhappy. No wonder we’re discontented. No wonder we’re miserable. Coveting has done its evil work within. It has bored its way into our soul, eating away our happiness, leaving us empty, frustrated and angry.

4) The invisible and forbidden sin:
Coveting is an invisible sin. Most of the others sins have some kind of visible manifestation. Coveting is invisible. It is the root of all other sins. Whenever a thing is forbidden it becomes desirable. That which a man must not have becomes the very thing he now must have at all costs. Coveting is the root of all other sins because it causes us to want that which is forbidden.

5) It springs from an ungrateful heart:
The covetous man doubts God’s wisdom, God’s goodness, God’s justice. God’s timing and ultimately God’s love.

Coveting is a terrible sin because it is a surreptitious attack on God himself. Those who covet are saying, “God, you haven’t taken care of me.” They are blaming God for his failure to meet their needs.

6) Coveting destroys life:
We live in the most technologically advanced generation the world has ever known. No generation has been so advanced. No generation has enjoyed our privileges.

If having more could make you happy, we ought to be the happiest people in the world. But we’re not. We’re miserable, neurotic, unhappy, confused and dissatisfied. We’re frustrated and extremely materialistic. Our marriages fail, our homes break up, our children struggle, our lives don’t hold together. We’ve got it all! And it’s still not enough! We ought to be happy… but we’re not!

7) Guard your heart:
This means pay attention to your desires. Every act was once a thought; every purchase was once a desire; every foolish word was once an idea. Coveting happens inside the heart when our desires begin to get out of control. We must guard our hearts (our minds and thoughts) for it is the starting point of all sins. We become what our minds dwell most upon.

8) Your checklist for life:
A) Don’t compare what you have with what others have. A saying goes, “What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others.” You can never be content nor have peace of mind as long as you keep comparing yourself and your properties with that of your neighbours.
B) Avoid impulsive desires to spend more money. Don’t make excuses for your greed. Don’t justify your foolish purchases.
C) Don’t pass unfair judgments on those who have more than we do. You have no idea what trials they may be going through.
D) Stop lying to yourselves about things which you really need when in reality they are not needs but endless wants.
Do not allow yourself to be swept away by foolish desire. Learn how to say “No”.

9) What is contentment?
Contentment is not the fulfilment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have. It is putting your trust in God to meet all your needs and thereby helping you avoid stress and preventing you from hunting for happiness in all the wrong places. Benjamin Franklin said, “Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.”

10) Paul found sufficiency in Christ:
Philippians 4:11-12
“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
In Philippians, we learn that Paul had learned to be content with what God provided, irrespective of circumstances. It is significant that Paul had to learn this virtue; contentment is not natural to most of us. Paul truly understood what it was to be in want and to have plenty. He had learned how to trust God in every particular situation and in all situations as a whole. In Stoic philosophy, “content” described a person who accepted impassively whatever came. Circumstances that could not be changed were regarded as God’s will, and fretting was useless. This philosophy fostered a self-sufficiency in which all the resources for coping with life were located within a person. In contrast, Paul locates his sufficiency in Christ, who provides strength for believers.

11) The remedy for covetousness:
Today coveting is one of the most prevalent and destructive sins. We covet money, status and success, possessions and pleasure without limits. What is the answer for the curse of covetousness? The answer is contentment. You can’t be content and covet at the same time. You can be contented or you can covet, but you can’t do both. The way to control our coveting, the desire for all forbidden fruits… is to practice its opposite, which is contentedness. Contentment is a rare quality in today’s culture, but it is extremely liberating!

12) Start being generous:
Would you like to experience the joy of freedom from coveting? It’s not that difficult. Start by giving something away to the needy. Then do it again and again. Coveting can’t stay inside a generous heart!

13) Ask God to give you a grateful heart:
This one is so simple that we miss it. Why aren’t we more grateful? We aren’t grateful because we’ve never asked God to give us a grateful heart. By nature we are covetous, greedy, grasping and unhappy. We need hearts filled with gratitude for God’s grace, love, mercy and for all the blessings he had bestowed upon us, more especially for the blessing from the cross.

14) Conclusion and Prayer:
Contentment doesn’t mean that you cannot pursue God-given goals, but it does mean that you are content with what he has provided you with, day after day. Contentment simply means, “Be happy with what you have.”

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Prayer:
“Lord Jesus, you have given so much to me, more than I deserve. Give one thing more, a contented and grateful heart. Amen.”

Scripture passage:
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” –Revelation 21:-6-8

God proclaims that he has completed his new creation… “It is done”. The name of God… “The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” His name emphasize his absolute authority and control over the cosmos, his creation.

Salvation is beautifully depicted by the image of drinking at the spring of life. God invites those who sense their need and are drawn toward him to come. Nothing is required except to come and drink.

Those who respond to this invitation and remain loyal to Christ as over-comers will inherit all the new things of the city of God. They will be God’s children, and he will be their Father. This is the essence of salvation– unending, intimate relationship with God himself.

A choice confronts us. This choice must be made because there are two cities: the city of God and the city of Babylon, each with its inhabitants and its destiny. Those who drink from salvation’s springs supplied by God himself are true followers of Christ. The “cowardly” are those who fear persecution arising from faith in Christ. Not having steadfast endurance, they are devoid of faith. Thus they are linked by John to the “unbelieving” and “vile.” They are called “murderers” because they are guilty of the death of the saints. The sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars are those associated with idolatrous practices. By their own choice, Babylon is their eternal home.

Eternal punishment awaits all who do not believe and obey. God is love. Love is his very nature. But this love cannot supersede his righteous judgment. He will judge everyone according to truth and justice. We can be so taken up with the love and compassion of God that we overlook his implacable opposition to all evil. The wrath of God is not a popular subject today, but it looms large in biblical teaching. We overlook this wrath only at our peril. Heaven is the goodness of God. Hell is the severity of God. No ungodly person can bribe the holy, the just and the righteous God out of his or her punishment in the eternal fire. Eternity is a long time to make the wrong choice.

The rich man found himself in a fiery place of torment. Lazarus found himself in the bosom of Abraham. There were ten maidens waiting for the arrival of the Bridegroom. Only five of them could not enter the Wedding Feast. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when the Day of Judgment will come. It will be as in the days of Noah.

Revelation 2:10
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”

Be firm, hold fast the faith, confess Christ to the last, and at all hazards, and you will have a crown of life. You will be crowned with life and have an eternal happy existence, though he may suffer and die a temporal death.

It is said of Polycarp that when he was commanded to reject and blaspheme Christ, he firmly answered, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong, how then can I blaspheme my king who hath saved me?” He was burnt alive. He suffered cheerfully and died for Christ his Lord and Master.

“If there is a God…”

The existence of God is questioned by some people based on all sorts of trials and suffering across the world. But these things are nothing else but what we philosophically call “life.” Something is wrong with the world. One don’t have to be a great Bible scholar or highly educated or a great thinker to understand that something is wrong with the world. Look around you, the answer may be nearer to you than you thought. The world is ravaged by problems and suffering of all sorts. These are not confined to mankind alone but even nature. Nature is indeed is beautiful but not free from the contamination of sin. The calm rivers can become devastating floods. A volcano can suddenly erupt and destroy whole towns with everyone living in them. Cyclones can ransack towns, farms, and kill both man and animals.

The big question “Why?”

The most common questions often asked to debunk the existence of God are…

“If there is a God, why is he not doing anything about all the human suffering in the world?”

“How can we say there is a loving God when he allows killing, murder, and let innocent little children die in wars or disease or hunger?”

The cause behind the effects

Our worldly problems, trials and difficulties do not mean there is no God. A person becomes ill because something is making him or her sick. Something is terribly wrong with the world. Think logically, there must be a cause behind the effects.

Action and reaction go hand in hand. Through the disobedience of Adam, sin entered man and our relation with God was severed. This is the original sin. Besides this we have a tendency to commit sins. This are personal sins, which is in fact the influence of the original sin.

We are sinners living in a fallen world. Hunger and poverty, personal and social problems, wars and strife, natural disasters and calamities, sickness and death, will always be there with us until the second coming of Christ.

Physical and spiritual death

Sin is our greatest problem. It has corrupted the entire universe. Physical death is inevitable. It will come sooner or later. From distance we were made and to dust we return. Worse than physical death is spiritual death, which is separation from God.

The assurance of faith

In conclusion, faith is the key. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. And by grace through faith in him we can have eternal life…. reconciled and united with God.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Hebrews 13:14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Faith gives us convictions about creation. Belief in the existence of the world is not faith, nor is it faith when people hold that the world was made out of some preexisting “stuff.” But when we understand that it was the Word of God that produced all things, that is faith.

The visible universe is not sufficient to account for itself. But it is faith, not something material, that assures us that it originated with God. This world is God’s world, and faith assures us that God originated it. Further, nothing is permanent in this troubled and chaotic world. Everything in this world is temporary. We don’t have an enduring home in this world. But it is faith that enables us to see a glimpse of heaven. By faith we are assured of our invisible, permanent, and eternal home. Therein lies our joy, our hope of living in the presence of God for eternity.