 Today we're in chapter 4 here in Galatians. We're going to look at verses 12 through 20 and so I'll begin reading at verse 12 and Read to verse 20 and we'll get into our study Galatians chapter 4 beginning at verse 12 Reading to verse 20 brother, and I urge you to become as I am For I am as you are you have not injured me at all You know that because of physical infirmity. I preached the gospel to you at the first and My trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or Reject, but you received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus what then was a blessing you enjoyed For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth They zealously court you But for no good Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always and not only when I am present with you my little children For whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone for I have doubts about you When you study the Bible you discover some things especially as you look at the the New Testament And you read the letters written by the Apostle Paul When you read the letters by the Apostle Paul you discover something about him Immediately and that is that he was a masterful theologian He had an incredible mind. He was incredibly trained He was a master at theology. He was able to to give such deep things concerning the things of the Spirit of God The Apostle Peter who was one of the original 12 When writing concerning the Apostle Paul said that Paul writes some things that are very difficult to understand Now this is a man whose training was as was normal during his time He received a lot of Bible and this is a man who walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years Yet when he spoke concerning the depth of knowledge and understanding of the Apostle Paul He spoke of him as being someone who would write things that are very difficult for for people to be able to to grasp And indeed Paul was able to he was a master at theology. He was able to communicate deep things You pick up his writings you look at the book of Ephesians and it takes so long to even get on the surface of the things He has to say you read concerning the things he says in the book of Colossians and once again He says some things that are very difficult to understand and it takes a lot of study and prayer and meditation To begin to grasp the things that he communicated to us master when it came to theology But we have to be careful not to think of him as only an individual who had an ability to communicate Deep things related to theology because not only was he very deep in those things But he also was a man who had the heart of a shepherd. This was a man who had a tremendous amount of love It's the Apostle Paul who wrote 1st Corinthians chapter 13 Sharing about love and what love is and and how important it is to have the love of God in your life This is a man who loved deeply. This is a man who loved with great emotion a man who had tremendous passion especially for the church He was a man who was a shepherd a Man who understood the principles of being a shepherd even as Jesus in John 10 11 when Jesus was speaking about himself He said I am the good shepherd, but he said and the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep When he spoke concerning the hireling he said he sees the wolf coming and promptly flees because He's a hireling and the sheep don't belong to him. I am the good shepherd. He said I lay my life down And that was the heart of the Apostle Paul. That is the heart of Every genuine shepherd someone who voluntarily lays their life down for others When you study the writings of Paul you'll see so many things that he says so many deep things But I think he's most open when he speaks concerning his his heart and his love. I Think that he's most open when you study 2nd Corinthians Because in 2nd Corinthians the Apostle Paul is writing Following up the first letter and sharing with the the church there in in Corinth how that false Apostles have have entered in whom he refers to as a super eminent Apostles the ones who had lifted themselves up and spoke concerning Their visions and their knowledge of God and all and had called into question the love and ministry of the Apostle Paul When you go through 2nd Corinthians You can actually see him defending his ministry Defending himself against no less than 21 specific accusations concerning him how Valueless he really was they said this is a man who writes weighty letters But his presence is his weak. They said he's not even worth giving money to supporting in ministry They said things about him that he was a man who would say yes one moment and know another that He didn't really care that he lorded it over them There are so many starting in chapter 1 all the way to the conclusion in chapter 13 So many accusations that Paul has to deal with it and he begins to open up there in 2nd Corinthians And he shows his heart the heart that he has as a shepherd and one of most powerfully touching Portions is found in in chapter 12 You see in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 he writes with the transparency and honesty that is brutally real and and Is painful to even read? He says in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 11 verses 2 and 3 said I'm I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy I've espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a a chased a pure virgin to Christ But I fear lest by any means as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety your mind should be Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ He said I'm like a father with his virgin daughter And and I'm afraid that someone will seduce you I'm afraid that you're gonna be taken and hurt harmed and left in pain. I Betrothed you as a chased virgin to Christ, but there are some who are coming to corrupt you That's the heart of passion that every father who has a daughter can understand heart of protection Chapter 12 of 2nd Corinthians verses 14 and 15 he says for the third time. I'm ready to come to you And I will not be burdensome to you for I do not seek yours, but you For the children ought not to lay up for the parents But the parents for the children and I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls Though the more abundantly I love you The less I'm loved The more I love you the less you love me, but I will burn myself out for you because I love you That's the heart of a shepherd. That's the heart of the apostle Paul You see as a shepherd he loves the church And he was constantly concerned with their spiritual life He would speak of that again in 2nd Corinthians How that he had so many things that he went through beatings and stripes and being shipwrecked and and Things of that nature and he said in 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 28 beside the other things what comes upon me daily My deep concern for the churches I've gone through so much pain. I've gone through so much hurt physically Many sleepless nights many fastings many prayers. I've gone through so much Paul said But the thing that is really at the premiere the thing that is really at the top is my concern for the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ he was somebody who would plant a church and then want to go back to see how they were doing in Acts 15 36 some days after Paul said after Paul said to Barnabas Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they're doing That was Paul. He was somebody who if he brought someone to the Lord would be concerned about their walk with God He knew it was Irresponsible to simply lead somebody to Christ without concern for their follow-up And so he said I've got to go back and I have to check on them. I want to see how the churches are doing I want to make sure they're still walking with the Lord And so this is what's going on here, and this is really how he's beginning though You may not see that at first But that's how he's beginning here in verse 12 when he says brethren I urge you to become as I am for I am as you are you have not injured me at all What he's speaking about is is very basically I Want to share my heart with you because up to this point and we've seen this I've I've had to reprove you Because false teachers have have enter in and and they're undermining your faith And and you have been deceived and I'm greatly greatly disturbed about this I urge you as what he's saying become as I am and I'll show you what that means in just a moment but I'm concerned because Though your your your people who who have heard the truth of the gospel you've been deceived remember chapter 3 Verse 1 how he said beginning at verse 1 foolish Galatians who's bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified this only I want to learn from you Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? And so he's already speaking concerning about that he's speaking that concerning that because those False teachers have entered in and have brought Gospel that is false and therefore is ensnaring them and taking them from the liberty that Jesus has given to them And bringing them into bondage And any minister of the gospel who knows the grace of God as paul did Doesn't want to see the church in bondage In legalistic bondage being The life being just dried up inside of them Do it does the enemy deceive and can he deceive even genuine believers? Absolutely Even genuine believers if they're not in the word of god if they're not maturing Can be deceived there's no doubt about that when I first got saved 20 years old Genuinely saved gave my heart to the lord was born again had a tremendous sense of his presence A great testimony of his presence in my life And as a new believer Some jehovah's witnesses stopped by my house Gave me some of their material. I began to read it And some of the things that they said were contrary to what the scriptures taught, but I didn't know that I had just been saved I didn't know exactly what the scriptures said yet And for a period of time I began to think well, maybe they're right about these things Maybe they're telling me the truth. Is it possible to be to be deceived? Yes Yes, you can be And that's why paul is so greatly concerned. He doesn't want them to be deceived. Is there something called truth? Yes, where is it found in the bible rightly divided? You find the truth of god all the precepts all the commands all the word of god is truth Jesus said sanctify them in your truth your word. Jesus said is truth you see And so we do have that truth We embrace the truth but false teachers enter in and they can undermine that and paul is greatly concerned about that And so he wants them to continue because he doesn't want his work amongst them to amount to nothing That's what he had said In verse 11 when he had said i'm afraid for you lest I've labored for you in vain I don't want the work that I have performed amongst you to be in vain to amount to nothing I'm not giving up on you But i'm afraid that my labor may be in vain I want you to remain strong. It's like what john in second john verse 8 said look to yourselves That we do not lose those things we work for but that we may receive a full reward I don't want you to be lacking in anything and losing out in anything So it causes him great personal pain because he has to admonish and correct the church But there's a dangerous situation here. He has to do that He has to speak to them in this fashion because because they're in such danger You have to do that and sometimes if somebody's in danger You don't whisper you do raise your voice And you do make it very very clear that you're greatly concerned about what is going on and that's what he's doing Now he needs to repeat himself. He needs to minister to them. He needs them to understand And that's what he's doing here. He's he's communicating to them and and wanting them to know That they needed to be corrected and need to be corrected because it's that Serious and that's why he goes in verse 12 and says I urge you to become as I am for I am as you are When he says I urge you to become as I am for I am as you are first He's saying I am living in the grace and freedom of the Lord and so should you I want you to become as I am I want you to walk in the grace of Jesus Christ. I want you to know the joy that comes to salvation I want you to know the power that comes through the holy spirit I want you to experience the grace and mercy that comes from god the compassion that god has for you I want you to have a life that's filled overflowing so filled with joy I want you to be as I am. I want you to have the freedom that christ has given to me I want you to know those things personally And I want you to enjoy those things even as paul could say even as I do I want you to have those things It's like I as a father would speak to my children when they were young and I would say I don't want you to have my testimony of evil I want you to know the good that god can do in somebody's life I want you to avoid the things that caused me pain so that you never suffer with with those things so that you might not have my Testimony, I want you to have the joy of the spirit And that's what happens When you really love somebody you want them to avoid the things that are unnecessary the things that they don't really have to go Through you don't have to go through certain things to learn Learn from others Learn from their mistakes But as for himself, I want you to be as I am I want you to live in the grace and I want you to live in the freedom of jesus christ I live in that and I want you to also Become as I am I am dead to the law, but I am alive in jesus christ become as I am That's what he had said in verse 19 of chapter 2 I through the law died to the law that I might live to god and I want you to have that too Yet said in philippians 3 verse 7 whatever was to my prophet. I now consider loss for the sake of christ I want you to have the joy that comes to knowing god You see I am as you are I'm a sinner saved by grace I'm a sinner saved by grace Paul was jewish the galatians were Gentiles But god has made no difference between the two We all need the grace of god. We all need to in faith heal ourselves to jesus christ. We all need to be born again So he's saying even as you Well, so am I I'm somebody who needed god's grace I'm somebody who needed god to move in my life I needed somebody god himself to to reach down and and to communicate to me and to to say to me This is the way I I was that way and so are you You see all we are Who are saved our Our beggars who are starving Who have been shown where you can have a great banquet And we go out and invite others who were in our condition for the same Look at I was thirsty and I know where you can drink some good water And that's what we do So we're never any better than anybody else Nobody in this room Is any better than anybody else? qualitatively In terms of our need for salvation we equally We're lost and equally need the grace of god every day every day And so paul said I want you to be like I am and I have been like you are I'm an individual who who knows the grace of god and I simply want you to walk in that You see paul was a jewish rabbi and as a jewish rabbi He paid a very costly price when he came to jesus christ And these judaizers these individuals who are entering into galatia and trying to bring them under the law of moses Can actually intimidate these galatians and can even embarrass them to the point where they embrace The slavery of the law and that's why he's saying I want you to walk in the freedom and the grace I understand what the law is I lived under it. I don't want you there Notice how he says you've not injured me at all In other words, I'm not taking this personally Any injury that has been caused at all has not been to me because I'm not taken it personal but frankly If there's any injury that you've caused it would really be to the gospel and and it would be to your own spiritual lives It would be to the gospel because you're starting to mix the law with grace And if you take that out and try and give that then then that is is a mixture of of truth and error And and and you're actually doing harm to the gospel of grace that message of goodness that god has for us Whereby if a man embraces they can be saved I just received a an email question from Somebody in the who doesn't go to this fellowship, but she has a relative who does and Was asking me a question related to baptism because she had she said I had heard the gospel, but shortly thereafter was brought into a and these are her words a cult And she said and I stayed in that cult for a few years And she said to me I just answered this question just just today And she said and and I just want to know she said if If I don't get baptized or if I'm not baptized am I am I unsaved? Am I unsaved because this particular cult that she was part of Taught that they said if you don't get water baptized you are unsaved And if you die you're going to go to hell And she's living with fear because she hadn't been water baptized and so she writes me and says Am I unsaved will I go to hell? See that's mixing law with grace That's mixing law if you don't do this if you don't get water baptized you're going to go to hell is is is typical of many cults I had a lady who used to be in one of my bible studies when I used to teach over here in a house Before I planted this church Who came up to me and she was from a similar kind of background and she said The same question plus she was saying you know Churches aren't supposed to have guitars and they're not supposed to have drums and they're not supposed to have musical instruments They're supposed to just sing without any musical accompaniment because god says we're to sing with grace in our heart Etc she got that from a cult She got that from a cult that said no you can't have guitars and you can't have Pianos and you can't have drums And and those kinds of things were one is wrong because Psalm 150 makes it very clear that you praise the lord with all manner of musical instruments And the bottom line is and then the new testament says that we sing hymns and psalms to the lord hymns and psalms were sung with the musical accompaniment And so for them to say that you shouldn't have music Or say that you have to have Water baptism to be saved is the kind of thing that brings people into bondage and these people are they have no joy Their representatives came to my house on one occasion And knocked on the door they didn't know that I was already a christian or anything They were just representing their their cult and I was familiar with their cult and they came and knocked on my door And I came walking out and spoke to these young men And they said we'd like to invite you to a bible study on wednesday night And I smiled at them and I said I already attend a bible study wednesday night Oh, you do Where do you go? I said calvary chapel Oh I remember very well they looked at each other then they looked at me. Oh That's that church that says you need jesus in your heart to be saved Do you know and then they wanted to argue with me, you know, they wanted to argue with me because that's what they do They don't bring any truth They bring an argument and they try to ensnare you with the argument It is very typical It's very typical And so that isn't brand new that has been taking place for 2000 years these judisers entered into the churches of galatia They began to bring a gospel that was different paul's already said let them be anathema let them be accursed He said even an angel came in and brought a different gospel may they be forever accursed cut off Why because the grace of god is that important? Because it's the grace of god through faith that you get saved by No, I don't take this personally you haven't injured me at all But you really are taking the gospel And you're taking the power out of it When you begin to mix it up with the law and start giving people these uh legalistic rules and regulations to live by and not only that You're also injuring yourself your own spiritual life because you're not going to grow in the joy of the presence of the lord And so what you do is you you end up altering the gospel and starving yourself spiritually So no you haven't injured me, but you really are doing harm to yourself He says in verse 13 You know that I you know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first my trial which was in my flesh You did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of god even as christ jesus What then was a blessing you enjoyed for I bear you witnessed that if possible you would plucked out your own eyes and given them to me And so we need to walk in the grace of god and now he reminds them Concerning how he first began to minister to them. I find this interesting how he says it You know that because of physical infirmity. I preached the gospel to you at the first So he's recalling how he had uh minister to them initially and he speaks of infirmity physical infirmity That word infirmity if you take notes you might want to note this the word infirmity there speaks of feebleness of health It speaks of sickness in the body Why am I even saying you ought to note this? Because there are those who have been now for several years teaching that if you're really born again You'll never be ill. You'll never be sick And they teach that It's uh, it's called the the health gospel the health and wealth gospel. Some of you have heard it Some perhaps even came out of that Well, they'll say if you really have a true confession of faith and you don't waver Then you can be a hundred percent. Well any illness you may encounter Can be overcome by faith One of their greatest proponents the father of that movement and I could share a few things. I'll just share this um He died of a heart attack And had been hospitalized several times with heart conditions, but his followers were never told that they were never told that this man Who's saying you can be a hundred percent sure that you heal just confess it and embrace it His followers were never told that this is a man who dealt with frequent infirmities He never never it was never published, but he died of a heart condition Because as much as he tried to convince others that you could have a hundred percent guarantee of healing The fact is god is sovereign and chooses whom he's going to heal Paul had a physical infirmity And that's what he's referring to here. I had a feebleness of health. I had sickness in the body And and the the first time I came in ministered to you was due to the fact that I I was ill Now They're not quite sure nobody's really quite sure because he doesn't identify what it was but I want you to Notice verse 15 he said What then was the blessing you enjoyed for I bear witness that if possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me And many many conservative scholars believe that he's relating to an illness that had something to do with His eyes and and and that he couldn't see that there were times and and I'll show you this in just a moment But that he had some kind of illness that that That could have been a trial to them It may have been an attack of malaria had something to do with this vision either way He was there when he was sick And it was the illness that actually was used to bring him there in the first place and and as he walked in let's face it I mean He and he's referring to this. He said you could have you could have rejected me Uh on appearance alone Now at first He's even going to Galatia may have appeared Circumstantial I I want to give you something very practical only take a moment But this is practical god actually orchestrates circumstances in order that he might achieve his means God has a way of of orchestrating things so that you find your way into the center of his will Psalm 37 23 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord and he delights in his way God if you're walking in the spirit, you're led by the spirit and god has a way Of leading you where he wants you to be He has a way of doing that I got saved Went in the army Got out of the army Went into a spiritual tailspin Got right with the lord I said to god, I don't want to be Half in and half out. I want to follow you with all of my heart and I want to be trained in how to to teach and to know things about you so I went to bible college went to biola 1973 in september I started teaching a home bible study 1974 my brother frank Was going through a real difficult time in his marriage and He came to visit us. We took him to church When my brother was there at church an invitation was given and my brother gave his heart to christ So he was born again august 4th 1974 Well, I wait for him to be in church and go to bible studies. He lives in ontario. I live in norwalk And um, it's 45 minute drive. He works late. He can't make to my bible studies. So I tell my sister madeline. I'm going to go out and teach frank So madeline and I my sister and I climb in my 65 Volkswagen And we drive from norwalk To ontario every monday And we give my brother a bible study. It's my sister madeline It's me and it's my brother frank september october Giving him bible studies just us going through the gospel of matthew. He starts inviting friends from work They start showing up to his little apartment. They're off of D street And san antonio by a park And these people start showing up It's november Young woman comes I talked to her after the bible study. She doesn't know the lord Two weeks later. She's back at that bible study My sister madeline leads her to christ In that bible study that I was teaching there in the city of ontario This girl needs discipling So I marry her. I used to teach a bible study just down the street from here She would come to that study on occasion But she always came to the studies that I gave At my brothers We moved it to another house in montclair We moved it to another house in montclair And when he used to teach that bible study in montclair, there was a little boy We used to look around When I was teaching he would come and look around the corner because he and his sister had to be in the back room Well, we were having bible study. He was just a little guy Now he goes to this church as a man And I remember that little guy Now he's a big man Over 30 some years ago 30 some years ago 35 years ago 36 Used to drive by this Property here when I lived down the road told marie. That would be a great place for a church You see we Marie get saved We get married We're living in rollin heights Move to nerwalk Getting involved going to school Sitting under walter martin to learn apologetics End up going to claremont So that I can bring my bride to visit her mom and dad every sunday I get involved in the church in claremont I get ordained In 81 I leave and come over here We start in a little house We get a school Then we get another school You get some property then we end up in this place Place that I used to drive by when I lived over here And it becomes a place that god had planned all along For us to have So that we could have calvary chapel chino valley Calvary chapel chino valley already was in the heart of god long before it was in mine God already had a plan That one day we would be here on a wednesday night Getting in the word of god worshiping jesus christ in this place here God will orchestrate circumstances in your life Even as they're beginning to be blended you may not even see how they're going to eventually work out But then you look back over time and you say so that's what you intended all along All along You mean all those times I prayed and said god with that little girl would walk in that bible study That little blonde with those blue eyes and I'd say in jesus name. I claim her for me You mean you had one you you left in the oven a little bit longer All along For me and that girl Would be from a city that I wouldn't even do anything other than pass through as fast as I could Because who wants to live in chino? Who wants to live in chino? I mean the mascot is a fly I want to live here Because there's a reason to be here God orchestrates god orchestrates your footsteps He says yeah, it's cool. You you love san luis abispo. You'd love to live there. It's not for you Yeah, you can love. Oh, yes lagoon is a beautiful place. It's not for you I have something for you that Well in the morning when you wake up, you'll know exactly where you're at God orchestrates you know guys I cannot emphasize enough The fact that god Can bring circumstances together in just a way That when it's all said and done you see the hands of god moving And you do see it And so even though it was an illness that brought him there in the first place god used that illness For churches to be planted And people to be saved And so that's what he's basically referring to Now he says in verse 15. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? What was the source of your being blessed was your joy the result of living under jewish law? Or was it the joy of the freedom that you have in jesus christ when you when you first got saved? Was there not a joy there under grace you had joy Under grace he's saying you had peace you had comfort you had blessings you had love you have freedom I bear you witness that if it was possible you to plucked out your own eyes and given them to me From the beginning You loved me From the beginning you received that message that I preached from the beginning You looked at me as what I was a messenger of the lord jesus christ and your heart was knit with mine now This is something very touching From the beginning You would have even sacrificed your own eyesight for me. I bear you witness If it were possible you to taken your eyes out and you to given them to me You to sacrificed your own sight so that I could see you were touched by the gospel of jesus christ Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? I've been ministering for a long time There are some many That I could ask that question to Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth That's the cost of telling the truth When you speak the truth Like paul said to the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 15 speak it in love But speak it nonetheless Speak the truth Tell the truth Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth What happened When he was speaking to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians, he said though you may have 10,000 Instructors in christ yet you have but one father. I begot you in the gospel You may have people who come and add on to the foundation that I laid You came to faith through jesus christ through the ministry that you accepted through me And now here come all these people who want to add to your faith the things That they believe is going to make you stronger in the things of god But I want you to remember you will never go deeper than the foundations that were laid And i'm your father I brought you to faith That is the heart of a pastor. That's the heart of the pastor in ministry There are people who get angry at you all the time They write you letters You know I have a I have a A blog on our our Church's webpage and people will write things to me You know unkind words of angry rebuke or whatever And you think about that But people do that that's just life I was sharing with The uh shepherd's class on money night if you don't have thick skin don't go in the ministry Sheep may appear harmless, but they still bite And they do And sometimes they'll nip and sometimes they'll tear And sometimes they intentionally will say something to hurt you intentionally to bring pain But paul is saying to them How could I possibly be your enemy if I tell you the truth? faithful Are the wounds of a friend When you have a friend Who is willing to tell you the truth? You've got a friend You know some people don't want to hear the truth Sometimes they'll even ask questions as if they really want you to tell them the truth, but it's a setup watch out Man you know this When your wife says do I look fat in these pants? That's a trap If she didn't think she did look fat she wouldn't ask you Be careful Sometimes people don't appreciate the truth being presented But I have to tell you that the dearest friends I've had in the past I've been the ones who've been honest with me who've loved me Not the ones who are kind of like You know drive by critics They go by real slow. They see you bang bang bang then they take off You know they write you a letter but never put their name on it That kind of thing Or I've been speaking to several people and we all agree that You know that's the kind of thing that really has no value to it If you love somebody enough to tell them the truth also love them enough to give them your name So that they could know who's telling them this So the bottom line is I value the truth I value the fact that my friend George Adams Told me the truth You need jesus christ And if you don't receive him Dave, you're gonna go to hell I valued that I valued my friend bill Who would tell me the truth? That's what the environment was that I grew up in tell him the truth my home My mom Is probably the most blunt one of those blunt people you'd ever meet My mom is very like up front right there. I grew up that way Which is good in some ways you you always know where I am Where I stand you don't even have to ask. I'll let you know That's my personality You know tell the truth especially When you're speaking in the name of god Especially when you speak in the name of god Don't water it down Don't make it seem a lot easier. Look at jesus said Deny yourself Pick up your cross daily Follow me There's no compromise to that There's just a straight challenge you see And paul is speaking to the glations and the glations are getting all heard over the fact that he's telling the truth And therefore he says look it in this telling you the truth One I want you to remember how you treated and looked at me at first when I came in I brought this message to you of the salvation you could have in christ That you could have freedom in jesus the hope and the peace and the joy and the love And the comfort that comes from god you embraced it and you saw my condition I was not looking so good my eyes were swollen more than likely you would have taken out your own eyes and given to me What happened Well, what happens is people will come in And begin to challenge And begin to undermine And that's what had taken place now One aside and then I'll move on and conclude It would seem obvious that paul did have poor eyesight You can see various times that he's writing that that makes it seem pretty obvious look at verse 11 in chapter 6 here in galatians See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand Paul would often use ascribe Who would write what he was dictating You see that in robins chapter 16 verse 22 when When it says I terseus who wrote down this letter greet you in the lord But paul would very often Close the letter with his own writing so it would be authentic so that people would know that he was writing to them He said in 1st chrithian 16 21 I paul write this greeting in my own hand Colossians 4 18 I paul write this greeting in my own hand 2nd Thessalonians 3 17 I paul write this greeting in my own hand, which he says is the distinguishing mark in all my letters This is how I write And so there were those that would have said That they were sending a letter and or paul had sent a letter and they had it paul was saying no There are some who are saying that I'm writing and I'm not therefore I will write with my own hand So you'll know my signature and it's authentic in that way but Because of his poor eyesight he would write with large letters As he was writing and that's why in chapter 6 verse 11 he would refer to that Now when he goes on he says in verse 17 They zealously court you but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always And not only when I'm present with you my little children for whom my labor and birth again into crisis formed in you I would like to be present with you now And to change my tone for I have doubts about you Notice he says they zealously court you but for no good most cults seem to truly care about you They really do until they get hold of you Cults will pay attention to you. They'll come over to your house as often as is possible They'll take you to their church. They'll do everything they can until you finally get into the cult And then they no longer have anything to do with you most cults truly seem to care about you Again once they have you they stop caring why because they're only speaking They're only seeking spiritual scalps or maybe that they're going to profit off of you financially And so they zealously court you but for no good Ultimately, they'll exclude you from the grace of god notice verse 18 It's good to be zealous in a good thing always and not only when I'm present with you It's good to seek to honor god. That's always good This is how he sought them out and this is how they ought to view his example I sought you out. I did so for good. I didn't do this zealously to make you one of my disciples I did this in order that you'd be a follower of jesus christ Sometimes people will say I go to your church. This isn't my church I didn't die for it I didn't pay for it Jesus did he poured his blood out So no, you don't go to my church You're part of the body of christ that fellowships here in chino in chino valley. That's what you are See somebody who's going out to try and build up his own ministry and own reputation is a dangerous individual That's what they're doing But he's saying I've got a deeper concern notice verse 19 my little children for whom I labor and birth again into christ is formed in you My little children, you're precious to me. I love you dearly and I agonize Over you because I want to see you become mature in your faith That is something that the average person doesn't understand that is something that pastors over time begin to value My great desire after all of these years of ministry is to see the church mature in the things of god To love him To hold on in times that that's tough to when it's there's a struggle in your faith Is being challenged to to see you rise and meet that that that challenge in the faith of christ and to see you Conquer and walk victoriously that to walk in the joy to walk in in faith and truth That's what a pastor wants to see And and so there's a there's an agony in that pastor that others don't understand sometimes they think that Oh, you're just you're meddling in my life or you're just you're just too interested in me And and now the bottom line is a true pastor is going to always care in that way A true pastor in many ways is like a father when I was Married and having children already My mom On occasion when she was able to do this She would pull me over to her and she'd want me to sit on her lap so she could hold me I'd say mom I'm a man I'm married. I got kids Sad all about You're still my baby You'll always be my baby. You know, I I I didn't I didn't really get it I didn't But I do now Doesn't matter how old your kids get They're still your babies And I'll put on my facebook. I'll put this picture of my babies And every once in a while somebody will write uh pastor. I hate to tell you these aren't babies And my response is always the same They'll always be my babies Gray hair Doesn't matter. They'll always be my babies and those grandchildren. They're my babies They're my babies There's just something inside of you that has a deep love Because of yours and they're always dear to you Even when they're little stinkers They're still your babies And there's an agony that goes on inside of you As you watch them mature And you want to see them grow and you want to see them mature and you want to see them victorious and you want to see them as adults doing well Honoring and serving god, you know, that's what paul's talking about my little children He says it's like i'm giving birth to you I'm agonizing Because there's a pain involved in watching the struggle But I want christ to be born in you in such a special way that you're Well that you mature in christ, that's what I want And that's the true heart of a shepherd and finally he says I'd like to be present with you now and change my tone I have doubts about you. I wish I could be there with you Then I might see you Then I might be able to evaluate evaluate personally your condition I'm very concerned for you and I want to see you do well The church needs people who in listening to their pastor listen for the message of christ and pastors Who in laboring among the people Look for the image of christ It's my great desire that those who call this church their home All of us might grow together In our maturity being conformed into the image of jesus together And to grow into a vital loving fellowship of genuinely mature christians Who understand what it means to follow jesus christ and that was the heart of the apostle paul