Dear Galatia - The Book of Galatians

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 201. Join us in today's episode as we explore Paul's powerful letter to the Galatians, where he urges them to stay true to the Gospel. Hear how Paul defends his mission and challenges the community to live by the Spirit, not by human laws. Discover the importance of faith, freedom in Christ, and loving others in this inspiring message.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness,
and self control. Galatians five twenty two. Dear God, there
is nothing good in us apart from you. Thank you
for giving us the Holy Spirit and reminding us through
the Book of Galatians how to walk in the spirit.

(00:22):
Forgive us when we act in our flesh and do
things that don't please you. Fill us today and help
us bear fruit through your spirit.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
In Jesus' name.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Amen, Thank you for praying with us today. The Kid's
Bible in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports,
delivering monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands on crafts
and activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more, all with

(00:53):
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Speaker 2 (01:08):
Dear Galicia. In our last story, a council met to
discuss if gentiles were required to be circumcised to be saved.
The decision was known. Meanwhile, Paul continues to preach and
to stay in touch with churches in this story. The
following is a summary of a letter from Paul to
the churches in Galicia so that they may understand their

(01:32):
freedom in Christ and how to live by the spirit
and not by the law, as inspired by Galatians.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Hey everyone, it's Julianne Thompson guest hosting for Juliet Jeffresh Sadler,
here to welcome you back to the Kids Bible Andeir podcast.
Today we are going to hear all about a letter
that Paul wrote to some of his churches, and we're
even going to learn how to make fruit. Huh, that's right.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Listen close, dear churches in Galatia. I am confused that
you have abandoned God so quickly when you know that
there is no other gospel than the Gospel of Christ.
So why are you twisting it? Whose approval? Are you
seeking man's or God's? You cannot please both God and man.

(02:25):
For if I kept trying to please people, I could
no longer call myself a servant of God. Friends, I
do not want you to think the words that I
am writing to you are from me, for the Gospel
does not come from humans. What I am writing to
you now is from God, and it is in his
power that I write. You all know my testimony. The

(02:48):
man I used to be, I slandered the church. I
tried too hard to pursue my father's traditions, that is
until God called me out of that and revealed himself
to me. He called me to preach to the gentiles.
So I obeyed and traveled to many different places to
preach the good news to gentiles. They sang praises to

(03:12):
God for the work that he had done through me.
Fourteen years later, I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas
and Titus. I went and preached to the leaders and
gentiles in Jerusalem. I did not want to live my
life in vain, so I continued to wholeheartedly pursue the
Lord and his plan for me. God continued to work

(03:36):
through me in Jerusalem, even though there was some against me.
A man named Peter came to where I was in Antioch,
and I confronted him to his face. I confronted him
because he had been leading other Jews astray and was
hanging out with the gentiles more than he should have.
I said to him, in front of his friends, how

(03:57):
can you call yourself a Jew when you walk around
living like a gentile, but expecting other gentiles to follow
Jewish law and customs. As Jews, we are to die
to the law and live for God. We are to
be put to death to ourselves, just as He was
crucified for our sins. If we do not do this,

(04:19):
then Christ's death would be in vain. You foolish people,
what spirit has possessed you? You saw our Lord killed,
but you have not experienced the spirit. Your walk began
with the spirit, and now you are trying to take
matters into your own hands. Does God perform miracles by
your good works or by belief in His word? Understand

(04:43):
what I am saying to you. You must have faith
as Abraham did, and you will not be cursed like
the one who believes in justification by works. Before we
came to faith, we were held captive by the law,
and then faith unlocked our shape. We are all God's children.

(05:03):
There is no Jew, nor gentile, nor male nor female.
We are all one in Christ. I am concerned that
you have not been listening to my words to you.
Have I been doing all this for you for nothing?
I am begging you to follow Christ just as I do,
so that the Gospel may be preached to all the nations.

(05:27):
Don't make this a waste of time for me. Don't
lose heart. Slavery is no longer your home. You have
been made free in Christ Jesus, so that you can
go out and proclaim His good news to the poor
and broken. Though you are free, do not take advantage
of that freedom and use it to please your flesh.
But love others. For a man reaps what he sows,

(05:50):
so so to please God, not yourselves. This is how
you live according to the spirit. So I tell you
live by following the spirit. The Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self control. My prayer is that the grace of

(06:12):
the Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirit. Amen.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
All right, let's unpack this letter. Paul wrote the Book
of Galatians for the churches he visited, most likely on
his first missionary journey and the territory of Galicia. These
churches came about through the preaching and teaching of Paul,
But since then some other Jewish leaders had come with

(06:44):
a different message, a message that just wasn't true. They
were telling the gentiles in these churches that they had
to follow the laws of Moses in order to be saved.
This was upsetting to the gentiles in the church, and
once Paul heard about it, he sat down to write
this letter. If this were to happen today, I wonder

(07:07):
if Paul would have jumped on a live stream to
set them straight. I guess in forty eight a d
A letter.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Would have to do.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Paul explained to these churches the difference between living your
life to make people happy and living your life to
make God happy. He said, you can't do both. There
will be times in your life when you do something
because it makes other people think you're great. People give
you a words, clap for you, and tell others what
a hero you are. Paul says, that's not what we

(07:37):
should live for. Instead, our only focus should be to
please God. For the churches in Galatia, people were saying
the opposite of what God said was true, and the
Jews were tempted to believe people over God's word. This
is dangerous. Always check what anyone tells you with what
God's word says. If it says something different, you know

(08:01):
it's a false teaching. Paul then explained how these Jews
needed to die to the law and live for God.
That means that they were not required by God to
keep every law perfectly anymore. Because Jesus had already saved them.
They could go on trying to do things on their
own and simply have faith in what Jesus did on

(08:24):
the cross. Otherwise, Paul said, why did Jesus die for nothing?
He died so we could be free from having to
do it all. He died so he could enjoy a
friendship with him and his free gift of heaven. Then
Paul went so far to say that we are not Jews, gentiles, males,

(08:45):
or females. We are all one in Christ Jesus. We
are all the same. In Chapter five of Galatians, Paul
gives us some very important words in a passage you
may be familiar with.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
He tells us.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
What it means to keep in step with the spirit
or walk by the spirit. Because you see, each and
every day when we get out of bed, we are
tempted to live in our strength, or, as Paul says,
in our flesh. Our flesh is just the earthly body
that we live in, the one that was born into sin.
Our flesh is the part of us that wants to

(09:21):
be selfish and patient, prideful and unforgiving. But because we
have the actual living Spirit of God in us, we
don't have to let our flesh decide how we live. Instead,
we can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to come
alive in us and to help us live in a
way that pleases God. In other words, the Holy Spirit

(09:41):
lives our lives for us, giving us the strength to
make fruit. Now, of course we're not talking about apples
or oranges or kiwis. This fruit is much better. Do
you know what type of fruit or good things the
Spirit makes in us? We find it in Galatians five

(10:01):
twenty two. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness,
and self control. So next time you're having a hard
time loving someone or finding joy, being patient, kind, good, faithful,
or gentle, remember that you can't do it on your

(10:22):
own flesh. You need Jesus. Thanks for joining me today.
Remember the Holy Spirit is in you and working through you.
Tell him you need him today and take my word
for it. You definitely don't want to miss our next story.
Paul and Silas are stuck in a dark, nasty prison,

(10:44):
and they are singing. That's right. Come back to hear
all about it. Here we go. The Bible is the
best story ever told. It's God's story to you, and
it's all true. Loving our content, keep the adventure going.
By subscribing to Kid's Bible in a Year, you're trusty
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(11:07):
dot Com Kids Bible in a Year. For more inspiring
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Speaker 4 (11:24):
Thanks for listening to Kids Bible in a Year. I
want to invite our adult listeners to check out my
other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on today's topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring,
and we have awesome conversations and amazing guests such as
Candice Cameron Bray, Vice President, Mike Pince, doctor Robert Jeffers,

(11:47):
Shandon Breem, Maddie Pruett, and so many others. We are
helping you have conversations that empower you to have bold
faith in a broken world. You'll be excited, inspire, hired,
and encouraged in your faith as you check out and Apologetic.
Remember that you can tune in wherever you get your podcasts,

(12:07):
and on pray dot com.