A new book - Galatians 1:1-5 says,...

Today's verse are Galatians 1:1-5, which read,

v.1,2 - Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me; To the churches of Galatia:...

Paul is writing to the churches located in the region that today would be modern Turkey.  The churches of that region were Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.  These were visited and founded during the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas.

I am always amazed at how fast the apostle gets to mentioning the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Paul mentions it in the first verse.  This is the truth that we have be persuaded of to the point that is a conviction that we hold onto with confidence of the hope of His return.

Paul writes this letter to be passed around to these 4 churches and the brethren could be the men who would be delivering this message.

v.3-5 - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.  Amen.

This looks like a standard letter opening from Paul and it is but it is full of information and statements of significance.

"Grace to you and peace from God..." - Where is the grace and peace coming from?  When we live by the grace of God that is a gift, we can have peace and assurance of His gift to secure our salvation.  If we live by works, we will never have peace because we will never know if we have done enough to satisfy God.

"...our Father..." - There is a personal relationship stressed here with the personal pronoun "our."

"...and the Lord Jesus Christ,..." - Three names strung together to say that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Lord.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One prophesied as the Savior of the Old Testament, coming to bring salvation.  Jesus is to become our Lord, our Master, the One we submit and surrender to.

"...who gave Himself for our sins..." - Jesus was the willing sacrifice for something we have to own up to, "our sins."  We need to "own up" to our sins and that we are a sinner.

"...so that He might rescue us from this present evil age,..." - We need a Savior and Jesus came to rescue us from the path we were going down.  In a world that celebrates sin and participates freely in it, we needed a Savior who would hang on the cross for us but also rise from the dead to lead us daily through this present sinful world.

"...according to the will of our God and Father,..." - This plan of a Savior was God's plan from the beginning.  God provided the grace needed for our salvation.  "Our" is used a third time stressing this personal relationship with have with God and with Jesus.

"...to whom be the glory forevermore.  Amen." - To God we give "glory" or "our opinion, judgement, and view" perpetually and incessantly.

Paul addresses the churches of Galatia with the gospel in the very introduction of the letter.  It challenges me to realize that our times together need to be laced with the gospel from the start.  Paul doesn't build up to the gospel message, he starts out with it.  

"Lord, may I see how I can start with the gospel in my conversations with others.  It is of first importance and should be the first praise of my lips.  I have this unbelievable relationship with You that will last for eternity.  I pray that those types of words come out of me today.  Amen."

Pastor Adam