 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to New Testament Survey BC 103. Last class we looked at second Corinthians and today we're going to study on the letter to Galatians. So even before we could begin with our session, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer? Good morning. Can I request one of you to please lead us in prayer? Anthony Solomon, would you like to lead us in prayer? Good morning. Anyone from the class? You can just unmute and pray. Hello, good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you Anthony. Yes. Go ahead. Yeah, Heavenly Father, we worship and adore you. Give us the knowledge, the guidance as our teacher teaches your word. May you guide and protect us in the mighty name of Jesus. As we learn your word, may you give us the knowledge and understanding that we are done to do whatever our teacher teaches us and to learn your word in the mighty name of Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. Let me share the PowerPoint presentation with the class. Yes. So even before we could begin with our session, can I request one of you or anyone from the class to share? What is your viewpoint on the book of Galatians? What is that you know? What Paul was writing the book to Galatians, anyone from the class? What was the reason for Paul to write this letter? What was the purpose to write this letter or what was he writing to tell anyone from the class if you know of anything? Okay, we just have the class without any delay. The book of Galatians is also known as the book of Liberty and this letter was written. Who's the author? I'm sure most of you all know the author of this letter. Who's the author? You can please unmute and speak. Who's the author of this letter? Paul. Yes, it is Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul was the author of this letter and this letter was written approximately 49 to 55 AD and it may have been written from the place called Corinth on Paul's second missionary journey. So as Paul was on his missionary journey, he gets a report. He gets a report about the churches that he started and one such letter that he receives was from Galatia. The church that he started in Galatia has fallen into prayer to the heresy that the false teachers are ministering to the gentile believers in this church. Regarding what? That they have to submit themselves to the mosaic law before they could become a Christian. So when Paul gets this report and he reads it, it disturbs him because it is reversing to the teaching what he taught them. So Paul immediately writes this letter to defend justification as by faith alone and he warns this church of Galatia of the dreadful consequence of abandoning the pure gospel of Jesus Christ which you get only through salvation, alone for salvation. Whereas the Galatians were so quick to decide, they received the gospel very quick when Paul preached and now when the false teachers are preaching, they are not able to reason it out or analyze but they quickly again accept their teaching. So what Paul is saying is they were like very unclear, they were disloyal to Paul's authority of apostleship. So he starts to write this letter defending his leadership and at the same time he refutes the false teaching of justification as through law. So that was the reason for him to write this letter. So we will go in deep and look into what happened. So one of the point here when we study this letter is Paul is trying to be very stern with the Galatians. One of the reason why he is trying to be stern is as a leader, yes he need to be loving, you know, encouraging but at the same time he needs to be stern to bring a correction and then. Okay, so the whole letter is sounding little stern, very direct. Yeah, just give me a minute while I change the slide. Okay, this is the map of, map where we see Paul takes a different journey to different place and here we see how Paul ministered in the place of Galatia during his first missionary journey. So what happened here? In the southern Galatia that is, this is the Asia Minor and in the southern Galatia is the lower region of the Asia Minor. So the provinces visited by Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey includes Pamphylia, Piscesia. If you can see here, Pamphylia is here, Piscesia. There are two Antiochs if you see in the map. There's an Antioch here, can you see my cursor that's moving. Class, I am able to see my cursor when I move on the map. Anthony, okay, great. Thank you Anthony for confirming. So we have two Antiochs, if you see near Syria, there's one Antioch in Syria, that is where they begin their journey. And this is the place where the Antioch of Syria is the place where when we studied the book of Acts, it says first time the believers were called as the Christians. So this is the place which we talk about when we say Antioch in Syria. So there's another Antioch here in Galatia. This is called Antioch in Piscesia. Can you see that? It's here Antioch in Piscesia. So I'll go a little slow so you can move your eyes on the map that is here. We will be covering these regions in Galatia as we study this book. Okay, so Paul visited all these areas in his first missionary journey and that is Pamphylia, Piscesia, Lyconia and southern Fergia. We see this in the map. So what happened now? The people of this region had the reputation for being very hasty in nature. This was their nature, they were hasty, spontaneous and impulsive in nature. And also the people in this region had a reputation of being very argumentative and confrontational. So they had a reputation of being very emotionally unstable and subjective. So due to which we can see this can be seen in Lystra when we go a little deep, a little later. We see in Lystra when Apostle Paul preached the gospel, people were very fast to grasp or accept the gospel from Apostle Paul. The very moment, the next moment, you see they were ready to storm them. When the Judaizers came to Lystra and shared what they experienced, they were ready immediately to storm Apostle Paul instead of reasoning or listening to both sides. You see they were very quick, they were very unstable in nature. And we also, that was when we read in the book of Acts chapter 14, we see the nature of this Lystra people. Okay, this can also be seen in their very quickness to receive the gospel and quickness to change to another gospel. And the specific cities that Paul visited and in most cases left churches include like Antioch and Poseidon when we turn to Acts chapter 13. Most of it are in the book of Acts so that we can get the history of what happened in the region of Galatia. Acts chapter 13 verse 14 to 52 when we read, in verse 14 he says, But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Presidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. So one thing that we noticed in Apostle Paul's journey, whichever place he visited or you went to minister to preach and teach, he first entered the Jewish synagogue. If there was one, if in the place where he went, there was no synagogue, then he would have just started his ministry on the street by repent or literally yearn for more of the teaching from Apostle Paul. Now why did Apostle Paul step out to the street? Because one of the reason was when you read through the chapter 13, we get to see eventually the Jewish people. I see some messages coming. Let me check. Yes, Anand. Ma'am, the network is in Kokoma. Your video. Okay. Okay. Just give me a minute. I'll switch on to the different network. Is it better now if I off the video? Yes ma'am. It's better, right? If I off the video. Okay. Thank you Anthony. Thank you Anand. Okay. Yeah. Let me know. So I just put off the video but we'll continue with the teaching. Okay. So what Apostle Paul did when the Jews in the synagogue refused to receive, immediately Paul did not stop teaching but then he stepped out to share among the Gentiles. And here we see a door been opened for Apostle Paul among the Gentiles where the Gentile believers, Gentiles were ready to receive this gospel and they went ahead literally begging and asking Apostle Paul if he can teach more. If he can teach more. Just give me a minute. Anand, if there's any fluctuation, please do let me know. Thank you. Okay. In verse 44, in Acts chapter 13 verse 44 when we read, we see that Paul had city wide interest in this message and the multitudes came to your, so the Lord was transforming the people's heart with the gospel message that Apostle Paul was sharing. They were, you know, multitudes from this place, Galatia, were turning towards Apostle Paul's message or they were receiving the gospel message that was preached to him. And in verse 45 and 46 we see that the Jews were moved with envy because they see the large multitudes following him and the Gentiles but receiving this gospel message. Immediately the Jews were envied and began to oppose Apostle Paul. So what happened in verse 46? 46 that Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first but since you rejected and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles. So they gave an answer to the Judaizers who were coming against the gospel with Apostle Paul. You know, because they said like, because you're rejected, God has opened a door for us with Gentiles and then in 48 and 49 we see that Paul had a great fruit among this Gentiles ministry. And in verse 50 we see that the Jews strived, stirred up prominent leaders in the city and had Paul and Barnabas expelled from that region. So that was very heartbreaking for Apostle Paul. But then one lesson that we need to learn from this very incident or much later also we will see is, we see that Paul is carrying a never giving up attitude. If one door is closed, he moves on to the other and here when they refused and when he was expelled from that city, he moved on. He never stayed back in Antioch of Pesedia, Antioch in Pesedia nor he returned back to Antioch in Syria where he started the missionary journey. But then what he did was, this is in the first missionary journey that we are talking about. So it was Paul and Barnabas. So they immediately moved to the next place. In the map we can see Iconium. So they were here, Pesedia, yeah Pesedia is here. Now they move on to Iconium. Can we see this place here? Okay, from Antioch in Pesedia they move to Iconium. Now what happened in Iconium? Paul started again this ministry in the Jewish synagogue. We see that in chapter 14, Acts chapter 14. Can I request everyone to turn to the book of Acts? Turn to the book of Acts chapter 14 verse 1. Can I request one of you all to please unmute and read so that we all are on the same page? Anyone from the chat? Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, yes Nina please go ahead. Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. That's the first verse right? Yeah. Yes, yes that's right. Thank you. Actually you can go ahead with verse 2 also we can cover. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. Thank you so much. So what we see here is first point we see that Paul started his ministry by preaching in the Jewish synagogue. This was the norm for Apostle Paul to do whichever place he went in. And the second point we see is many Jews and Gentiles responded to the gospel message that Apostle Paul was sharing and they were coming into the faith. And the third point in verse 2 we see that the unbelieving Jews, they stirred both Jews and the Gentiles against the gospel. That is against Apostle Paul and Barnabas. Then eventually when we read verse 4 and 5 we see that eventually they got so bad, the situation went so bad. The violent attempts were made to harm them and even stone them to death. And in verse 5, verse 5 it says, and when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their ruler to abuse and stone them. They six, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and then Derby cities of Iconia and to the surrounding region. So when they refused, when they were forced to leave, so Apostle Paul left the place just for the sake of peace. He didn't want to defend anymore, he leaves his place and he moves on to the next place Lystra. So we can see in the map Lystra, Iconium to Lystra, Lystra is just below Iconium. So he goes to Lystra. Now when he enters this city Lystra, Paul again ministers in the street because there is no synagogue in this place. So he directly goes on the street. Verse 9 we see that chapter 14 verse 9 in the book of Acts. This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed. Then verse 10 he says, said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet and he leaped and walked. So as they entered Lystra, this is in verse 8 if you see. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked. And you see there was a miracle, miracle that he did when he was preaching on the street. So when Paul healed this lame man, lame man and the people were around him knowing this man from the birth that he was lame. And now he has received strength in his leg and he was able to stand up, stand straight and then walk immediately. Immediately see how good they were and they claimed Apostle Paul and Barnabas to be the gods. And when people try to offer sacrifice to them as gods, Paul and Barnabas they were so fierce. You cannot put me in the place of God. God is above everything and we need to be given that utter reverence to him and not to us, we are just servant of God. So literally we see in the verse 13 to 18 when we read he says Apostle Paul rebuked the people for their idolatry nature. Now people were so quick to receive them as their gods and they went beyond what was expected. They tried to offer sacrifice. When Paul rebuked there was a correction. But then what happened now? The Jews who refused to listen to Apostle Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pesidia and they also another group from Iconium. So these Jews formed a group and when they heard that Apostle Paul and Barnabas is ministering in Lystra, they came to Lystra and they enticed the people against Apostle Paul and Barnabas. So what happened? Instead of reasoning out the people of Lystra came against Paul and Barnabas and they started to store at Apostle Paul. We see verse 19, chapter 14 verse 19. They say the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitude, they stoned Apostle Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead. Now these Jews they literally want to store Apostle Paul at the first place in Antioch of Pesidia itself. They just missed that. When they tried to do that at Iconium, even there he missed but then they were successful in Lystra of Stoning Apostle Paul and Barnabas. But what happened? Verse 20, we see that when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. So what we see is what you and I would do when we come across difficult situation of hardship or persecution, definitely we would pray. Though the verse 20 does not say that the Apostles gathered around and prayed but then it is definitely for sure that when there was no man to look upon, definitely the Apostles gathered round the disciples and Apostle gathered round Apostle Paul and they prayed with Barnabas. So that he may be brought back to life. We see the people in Lystra are very good in stoning. So when they stoned they know when a person is dead. It is not like they assume that Apostle Paul is dead but then they stoned him literally to death. They knew he is dead and they dragged him outside the city thinking they are dead. But then God is above everything. God called Apostle Paul for a purpose. God cannot take him back without fulfilling that purpose in his life. You see, when all the Apostles gathered around him and prayed, God brought back Apostle Paul back to life. He just got up, he arose and he departed from that city to the next city. Clearly the scripture says that Apostle Paul went to the next city to continue his missions. We need to pause and think here. Do we have the same attitude? The scripture does not say that when all the disciples prayed on Apostle Paul that he was completely healed. The bruises were gone, that he was standing strong, he went. No, I don't think the bruises would have been on his skin. He would have been bleeding. His bones would have been hurt and aching. He would have literally dragged himself to the next city, Derby. But what is important here we see is the call on his life. The call was so strong that it strengthened him from inside out. Yes, there was a pain all around him, bruised, bleeding. But then there was something, there was a strength within him. God has called him and God has strengthened him. We see that in chapter 14 verse 20 he just got up. He didn't even take time to rest. He just moved on to continue his missionary journey. Paul he went to Derby verse 21 says, And when they had reached the gospel to that city at Derby many and made many disciples there. After ministering to Derby, Apostle Paul decides we left all these places like Antioch of Presidia or an Iconium and Lystra. We left that place in many ways because of the forceful persecution. So we left this place forcefully so we'll do one thing. We can go back and visit all these places. They were believers who accepted the gospel of Christ. So we need to go back to these places, strengthen these believers so that they will come together and worship the Lord truly. So what happened? Paul left Derby. And he went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch and he strengthened the disciples who accepted the gospel and he sent the churches in order. And as he was returning, he also visited Perga in Pamphylia. You see as he was returning from Derby, he went to Lystra then he went to Iconium and then he went to Antioch in Presidia and on his way he went to Perga. He went to Perga in Pamphylia. So in Acts 13 verse 13, Acts chapter 13 verse 13 and later in 14, 25 verse 25, we see that Apostle Paul had stopped briefly in Perga Valley short period of time. And as he entered into the Asia Minor and here he preached in Perga about the gospel and people were accepted, accepted the gospel and they were turned. And then he returns to Antioch of Syria where he started the journey and there he rested well. When we read in chapter 14, Acts chapter 14 verse 28 or 26 onwards we see. Okay, 25 onwards we can take. Now when they preached the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia from Derby, Sale to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed and then he rested well. So this is what happened in the first missionary journey. So what was the background for the book of Galatians? There were four reasons. The first one we see in Paul's first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the church of Antioch, church at Antioch in Syria. So the church in Antioch growing strong and now they want to send out people on missions. So they sent Apostle Paul and Barnabas together to go minister to people at Galatia and start church. So this was the principle method. The principle method was whichever place that Apostle Paul and Barnabas would step in they will first step into the synagogue of the Jews. But if they refused to accept the gospel only then they would step out to share the gospel with Gentiles and very sincerely they followed this method. And in the places where there was no synagogue they started to minister on the streets except expecting God to open a door among the Gentiles. The second point we see is they had a great fruit on their first missionary journey. Yes, they had to face certain hardship and most of the places they were persecuted they were forcefully asked to leave those cities but then they saw there was a fruit because people who received the gospel grew strong and even on his return on his inbound journey Apostle Paul visited those believers to strengthen them so that he can establish their church. So what happened? He was successful in establishing five churches in his first missionary journey. As I said the five church is Antioch in Presidia he started then in Iconium then in Lystra, then in Derby, then in Perga in Pamphylia. These were the places where he started the five churches in his first missionary journey at Galatia and then they returned back to Antioch and they rested. Now the second point we see the background of this letter is the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 was 2 to 35 when we read there was an assembly at Jerusalem Council and we see the senior pastor at Jerusalem Council was James. So we had to meet in this council to address certain conflicts or certain issues that they were coming across encountering as they ministered to people. So what was the issue? As Paul and Barnabas were ministering to the cities to the Gentiles many of the Jewish believers felt that Apostle Paul was only preaching half of the gospel. They felt that he was making it too easy for people to get saved and they came against Apostle Paul and said how can you make it so easy for people to be saved? In fact, they have to undergo the Judaism law of being circumcised and they have to keep the Old Testament law. So these were some of the issues that the Jewish people were bringing upon the Gentiles. So and also even Apostle and also Peter had the same kind of challenges. So what they did is they brought in the question or queries to the council where all the leaders gathered together in this council to come up with the right solution. And when we read Acts chapter 15 verse 6 to 18 we see what happened in this council. They prayed and they asked the Holy Spirit to minister to them to take the right decision. So we see the leaders, you know, everyone came together and when they prayed when they prayed and they started the meeting the meeting started, the council started and eventually they had a heated discussion. When you see in chapter 5, 15 verse 7 it says and when they had been much dispute Peter rose up and said to them men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentile should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So what was Paul addressing? I mean Peter addressing here. Peter was addressing and sharing the testimony of what happened in the house of Cornelius of whom, you know, God asked Peter to go and minister to him. In fact, Peter was not ready. We know the story of what happened but then here Peter is sharing that testimony to the council. And then backing up we see Paul and Barnabas share their testimony of what was happening among the Gentiles in the area when they went and preached in Galatia how the Gentiles were open enough to receive this gospel and when they received what happened there was more of the Holy Spirit so they started to testify all that happened in their first missionary journey. Now James being the senior pastor of Jerusalem church now we see in the book of James James literally write about wisdom of God asking God to free with the wisdom now I know why because there were a lot of dispute inquiries coming up to James. Now James need to take the right decision which we please. So being the senior pastor am I connected? Is my voice audible? Is my voice audible? Thank you, Nikhil. Okay. Being the senior pastor he summarized the discussion shared a relevant scriptures and he suggested a solution that was received by everyone when we read chapter 15 Acts chapter 15 verse 13 to 22 because of time we are not getting in detail but eventually what happened is they prayed and seek God seek God and we see that you know there was a verse 16 we saw the hand of God and you know they got a proper solution was given by James and for which all the leaders had received it in peace and then the last point we see the third not last point, sorry and in conclusion in verse 19 to 29 we see they all agreed on the demands that should be raised on the gentile converters like circumcision should not be included because you know they are saved not by works but by faith on Jesus Christ. So what happened they all agreed that the letter should be written by the council, by the Jerusalem council and circulated among the churches and the leaders in Jerusalem so that everyone except the same thing. Then we see the Judaizers and their mission what happened they wanted to know what are these Judaizers trying to do in the church of Galatia. The Judaizers who did not accept the gospel of what Apostle Paul was preaching they wanted to go through the works and not by not by the grace of the gospel that was preached by having faith on Jesus Christ they did not want to do that but they wanted to have the works as well part of the teaching. So they felt like Apostle Paul was sharing only a part of the gospel and not in full. So they came against Apostle Paul and they started to influence the other believers who were trying to accept the teaching of Apostle Paul. So this was definitely a concern among the converts who converted to Christianity. So when they were coming in under the ministry of Apostle Paul and Barnabas they were not able to give the attention to the matter of law and also they had a difficult to accept the matter what these Judaizers were bringing in so you know bringing in about the circumcision. So it was definitely a concern that was one of the reason where Apostle Paul and Barnabas wanted to meet the senior pastor James at the Jerusalem Council with all the other leaders and bring a solution so that the ministry will not be opposed or stopped from sharing it to the Gentiles. Some of the main concern that Apostle Paul had when he was ministering in these churches where the Paul found these churches and they were in danger of being destroyed by these false teaching because these Judaizers wanted to implement the work of the law in them they were in fact you know undermining Apostle Paul's teaching they were trying to you know that was one of the reason why they were trying to oppose Apostle Paul and we also see that Apostle Paul was very upset with these Judaizers and he had no kind words on these false teachers where he was very straight blunt and direct in accusing them in fact he just in chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 to 5 he literally says just give me a minute when I turn to Galatians chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 he says he just calls these people as oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified you know he goes much beyond verse 5 when you see Apostle Paul is is very upset with the people for being so culpable and Apostle Paul also rebukes the leaders of these church for giving lead to these false teachers and further and in Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 to 14 when we read when we read we see that Apostle Paul was upset with Peter and some of the brethren from the Jerusalem church who seem to be taking a back stand or a weak stand on this issue of the Gentiles or keeping up the law of Jews for some reason then Paul had to be firm with Apostle Peter and also the other brethren in the church so that the right kind of decision will be given let me change the slide so next is we will go on to the outline the outline of this book is in chapter chapter 1 to 2 we see that Apostle Paul defends his Apostle he defends his leadership throughout the letter we see Apostle Paul defending his leadership so chapter 1 verse 11 to 12 can I request one of you all to read I know we are running out all the time okay maybe one of this can I request one of you all to read chapter 1 verse 11 to 12 but I make known to you brethren what was preached to me is not according to man for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ thank you thank you so Paul defends his leadership here and again in chapter 3 to 4 we see Paul explains the doctrine of justification by faith he goes ahead and emphasizes that he makes that all the work that is needed to be done for our salvation as clear was already been done by Jesus Christ on the cross so he is asking the Galatians to put their faith on the work that Jesus did on the cross then observing to the law and then we see chapter 5 to 6 he talks about instruction in the practical Christian living that results from liberty in Christ so the true freedom that we have isn't Christ this is the gospel that apostle Paul carries and preaches across the Galatians the freedom isn't Christ and not by keeping any rituals or any following any law and also in this gospel we see that you know he explains in chapter 5 verse 16 to 26 due to time I am not going in detail but I request all to please make a note of the scripture Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 to 26 where he talks about walking in the spirit and also he talks about the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit and also he says the very purpose of the Old Testament law Old Testament law explains it and he also says in Galatians 2 16 to 17 he talks about the doctrine of justification was through faith in Jesus Christ so as we approach the conclusion of this letter we see certain things and apostle Paul is making clear in chapter 6 that is the last chapter yes apostle Paul does give word he does not give words of praise as this usual format in the letters because he is very stern in this letter so when he is sounding stern he is not giving any praise and he is unusually harsh because he is upset with the Galatians for the histy in nature and also we see that he does not ask them for their prayers as is custom with many other letters and lastly in verse 11 chapter 6 verse 11 we see that he wrote this letter entire letter in his own hand he has not taken help from anyone the theme of this the letter to Galatians is Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 where it says knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ even if we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law for the works for by the works of the law no flesh can be justified by saying that I would like to you know conclude this letter by saying though they were persecution though they were false teachers coming against Apostle Paul teaching at the city of Galatians there were lot of persecution but then Apostle Paul did not give up on the very call that God had upon him we see not giving up nature in Apostle Paul and the same nature we see in God, God does not give up on us even though Apostle Paul was stoned to death and thrown out of the city thinking that he was dead but then Lord raised him up you know God gave him the strength and he walked to another city no matter what bruises he carried in his body but he did not give up on the mission that God has placed in his heart the fire that was unpermissible within him I think today as we study the letter to Galatians even we today in our own life in our ministry in our church in that area we may be in we do face our challenges the mountain may not be the same like what Apostle Paul was facing but we do have a mountain that is standing against us but here I would like to encourage and set our focus on Jesus just like how Apostle Paul did when we set our focus on Jesus God will make a way on every mountain God has the power to move that mountain approve that mountain which is standing just front of us and cast it into the sea God says my grace is enough through faith you can accomplish everything and also he talks about the fruit of the Spirit when we hold on to God you see the fruit of the Spirit been manifested in and through us so let's carry this passion this fire that Apostle Paul had within him Apostle Paul never rebuked I mean he never wasted his time going against his false teachers but what he did is he again and again reinforced the gospel so when we face our challenges we need to again and again get into the Word of God, claim the Word of God speak the Word of God every promise that God has given us because those are the things that will expel the mountain those are the things that will enrich us strongly in the purpose that God has called each of us to do knowing that so Paul as he is a stern he is also Apostle who has encouraged the Galatians who believed in the gospel he went back on his inward journey you know he goes to all the five churches he encouraged the believers he said you stand strong to this gospel and he said Jesus is the source and power of the believers new life and the hair of the promise to the Abraham see to the same word Apostle Paul is giving you and me saying that no matter what you are going into through your life, no matter what opposition you may be facing in your ministry or the challenges at your workplace it can be any area or any circumstance but then Apostle Paul is encouraging you and me to look at Jesus as the source of power and deliverance so let's look at Jesus and in the session with the word of prayer can I request one of you all to please unmute and pray and ask God no matter what a situation is help us to set our eyes set our focus on you let me pray Dear Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for each of us from the letter of Galatians thank you Lord that you are ministering to each of us in the way that we can understand thank you Lord for who you are in our life Lord we thank you for the word that Apostle Paul shared to us and it's been documented where we can refocus reset our focus on you because you are the God who is the source of everything source of power source of strength Lord I pray and I surrender each of us in the class who is on campus online and also the students will be watching this video later on e-learning Lord I lift up everyone into your hand Lord I pray that you will give us that faith that strength that is needed to face our giants in different areas thank you Father that you have set us free there is liberty in Jesus Christ thank you Lord as the believers in Galatia experience the liberty the freedom in Jesus Christ help each one of us also Lord as we study this letter to experience the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus thank you Lord for doing it so in Jesus name I pray amen amen thank you everyone for joining in today's session so tomorrow we will study the next letter thank you God bless