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Well, River Valley, we're doing something new this time for this sermon series. We're starting a new series on Galatians and I'm actually pre recording this in front of some of our staff and team and some people that are here because we're showing the video in Minnesota and I'm actually launching this live in Vancouver this weekend. So never done that before. So I'll be there. Maybe I won't be wearing this exact thing, but gonna be preaching the same message there. And. And so I just love what God's doing in our multi site church with what he's doing in Vancouver, what he's doing in Eswatini, what he's doing in Tokyo. And we're one church, multiple locations and I love it. So first time we've done this. So glad that we get to do this. Now we're starting this new series with Galatians. It's gonna be how many weeks? Six weeks, because six chapters in Galatians so that's what we're gonna do, one chapter a week. So we're gonna have to go fast. And maybe it won't be a teaching verse by verse each week, but today we're gonn and if I had to give a summary for Galatians, the whole thing, I would say this, that I would title this message. Restart required. Restart required. All right. I mean, how many know on your phone, you have a phone and it says you need to update your software. I get it all the time. I turn my phone off at night, turn it off completely and then I wake up, it says the update did not install, it didn't do that. And then it says when do you want to do this? And then I'm thinking I don't have any time today. And even when I do do the, you know, the how many are with me, I do the reinstall and then I'm like, I don't have time. And then I'll do it like restart later. I mean I'll do this later. I don't want. But I have to cause the phone will still work. But how many know it's a little glitchy, right? And you have, you have restarts on your car. I mean my car did that the other day. It's like restart needed. I'm like, I can't move. Restart needed. You know, not a convenient time, don't need a restart, you know, but so the update finishes and it does that and it's something that we're used to. But really with Galatians there's A restart needed and required. Because something worse is happening. It's not like God is upgrading the gospel. Okay, it was perfect already, but they start changing it. Imagine worse, like if somebody could get ahold of your iPhone and meddle with it and reprogram it. And that's exactly what is happening to the churches in the region of Galatia. They are meddling with the gospel. They're adding to the gospel, but they're rewriting things and adding new requirements onto it. And Paul's like, no, we're gonna have none of this. We're not gonna have this. And this problem is getting so big that he has to address it. And if you don't know the history, when Paul went to that region, there were already Jewish people in the region of Galatia, which is modern day Turkey. And so there were already people that were Jewish there. And then he goes and brings the message to them, and they're like, this is amazing. Now we know who the Messiah is. They accept him and they say, it's Jesus. And then as Paul leaves. Cause he's going to the next place to start the church, somebody's like, hey, I don't think Paul's right. I don't think Paul's right. I don't think it's just Jesus. I think if anybody wants to become a Christian, what we need to do first is have them become Jewish. They should become Jewish. And so all the men have to be circumcised. And then everybody has to be Jewish. And then as you start obeying the law, you get, like, merit points. I don't know. If they had, like, you get enough merit points, then you can become a Christian. Okay, does that make sense? And so Paul's like, we gotta correct this. This is wrong. This is not. The gospel doesn't need to be upgraded. It doesn't need to be changed. It needs to be trusted. And you need to realize it's Jesus plus nothing. Which kind of blows their minds because their whole time the law has been pointing to, like, all these things they have to do. And the law is pointing to Jesus. And so all these people are obeying the law and do this, and then they discover Jesus. And they're like, well, did that not count for anything? Well, it did count. It pointed you to Jesus. Okay? But now that Jesus is here and he's fulfilled it all, we don't have to go back. So there's no initiation. There's not like you're a. You're a junior Christian. I mean, can you imagine you're Almost there. You're almost there. All that stands in your way is circumcision. Then you're in. All right. People be like, I am opting out. You know? And so this. He's like, we're not gonna do this now. Interesting thing. In Galatians, Paul is correcting a drifting church. A drifting church. I just think back to, like, him starting the church and then going to the next town and the next town and just praying, God, please be with those leaders. I took the best ones you gave me. They're the best you gave me. I hope that campus pastor's good. Like, you know, that's like. He's like, praise God. And then he moves on, and they're adding to it. And every time the church has drifted towards earning God's favor and not just trusting grace, God has used throughout history, the book of Galatians to correct the church. When the early church was facing the Judaizers that were saying, you gotta do this, Galatians corrects it. Augustine, when he was battling about grace, he goes to Galatians. Martin Luther used it and loved Galatians. Matter of fact, I did not know this until recently. Martin Luther actually named the book of Galatians my Katie. Cause that was the name of his wife. And he's like, this is like my book. Like, I love this special book. I've never named a book of the Bible after Becca. I just want you to know that I've never done it, so. Never done it. John Wesley, same thing goes back to grace of Galatians. So whenever Christianity becomes about rules, God sends his people back to Galatians. And that's because it just strips away everything. It just says, it's Jesus, it's grace. It's grace. Jesus has paid the way. And we don't need to add anything to Jesus. Okay? So we don't need to do all the Old Testament rules that were there. And you may not realize this, but every. Every really New Testament letter that Paul was writing was answering some question. You know, Romans is talking about righteousness. Corinthians is addressing an immature church. He's correcting them. Ephesians, he's trying to help them to understand the identity of who they are in Christ. Philippians, he's trying to help them to understand how do you endure suffering and find joy and suffering? So all these letters are written in a corrective way. And Paul writes to the church, he says to the church in Galatia, like, the region of Galatia, there's a bunch of churches that he started and he says, they're drifting from the gospel. They've really abandoned it. And there's one verse that stands out in chapter one, and I'm gonna read all the verses, but there's one verse that if we could just jump right to it in verse 6, he says this. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. We're only six verses in, and Paul hasn't done his normal pleasantries, like, how you guys doing? What'd you do last night? You know, what'd you have for dinner? He's like, I'm Paul. I'm an apostle. I'm called verses three and four. He's like, here's what the gospel really is. And then he's like, I am astonished, you guys. I mean, Paul's using their middle name. How many had your parents use their middle name? This is a middle name moment, you know, And I've said it before. Mine is Ferdinand. Man, I knew I was in trouble when it was Robert Ferdinand Ketterling. I've said it before, too. But my mom dad had the weirdest middle names for us, you know? You know, Richard Trefley and Roger Keane. And then they got saved. And my brother Ryan, he got Ryan John, he got a normal one. So anyways, but. So there's no small talk, there's no greeting. This is a gospel emergency. I mean, this is something that's very serious. And people would say this is summarizing grace versus law in Galatians, but it's way more than that. And so we're gonna have. Each chapter is gonna uncover another counterfeit. Each chapter of this is gonna uncover another counterfeit each week. So week one is gonna be another gospel. Like, you don't need another gospel. It's just the gospel I preach to you. But chapter two is another identity that's a counterfeit, and we're gonna talk about that. Week three is another power you need, the power of the spirit. Week four is gonna be another family. You're in the family of God. Week five is gonna be another freedom. And week six is gonna be another boast. We boast in Jesus. So each week we're gonna look at a different counterfeit, different issues, same temptation, saying, is Christ enough? And the answer is, yes, Christ is enough. So this is what's going on. They were fighting over the circumcision and all this. But what do we do? What do we do? Like, people add to Christ, and we say it's Jesus Christ plus our traditions. It's Jesus Christ plus our accomplishments, Jesus plus our experiences, Jesus plus our politics, Jesus plus our knowledge. And it's not Jesus plus anything, it's just Jesus. That's what we're gonna see from Galatians. And it's gonna do, like a spiritual diagnostic on our heart. It's like gonna. We're gonna be hooked up to it. It's gonna take a look. So starting in verse one, Paul, an apostle sent not from men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. And all the brothers and sisters with me to the churches in Galatia, Grace and peace to you from God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, who to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And then, like I said, verse six, then he bam, slams him. But Paul starting off, and he's reminding him, hey, I'm an apostle. I'm an apostle. I was called by God. I didn't get this on my own. And in two verses, in verses three and four, he summarizes the gospel. Jesus gave himself for our sins according to the Father's will to rescue us. We were lost. And Paul's saying, this is the gospel, guys. And for those of you that don't know what the word gospel means, it simply means good news. It's the good news of Jesus Christ that he paid the price for our sins. He was sent on a rescue mission by God to pay the price for our sins. And we can be forgiven. Not on anything we've done. It's his work that he did on the cross. And now we get this good news that we don't have to work our way into salvation. He paid the price. And so he's like, don't walk away from the gospel. But I want you to understand what that means. It's the good news of Jesus Christ and the big slam. Then let's get to this. That verse six, I'm astonished. I mean, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Okay, astonished is a strong word, but there's a stronger word there. He said, you're turning. And some translations say, like, deserting. Okay, this is a military term. Paul says, do you understand? You're not just, like, sort of wrong here. You have deserted Jesus. You're that wrong. Like, so you see, that's why he's like six verses in. And he's like, I'm astonished. Like, I told you the message. I left it in good hands. And now you've done this, and you are deserting this. Now the people in Galatia, they actually thought they were getting something deeper. Like, we got something deeper. You know, Paul gave us, you know, gospel, good news, Jesus, forgiveness. We have something deeper. We're gonna add to this, the Old Testament stuff, and we're gonna add this, and it's gonna be way deeper. And they're like, I like this. This gives us more rules. And they liked it. And these false teachers are calling this progress. And Paul says, no, this is a distortion. If you do this, we lose the gospel. It's completely out. Cause grace doesn't work on a plus system. It's grace. It's grace. It's not something we do to get in. And it's not grace plus. It's just grace. See, every time we say this needs to be added or this needs to be added, then it's saying, jesus is not enough. And Paul's like, that is not the right way. And lately, I gotta tell you this, I'm kind of sad with the church in America. It's like they're. It's like, well, grace plus. God's expanding this and grace plus this and grace plus this. It just feels like we're putting a lot of pluses on. And it's kind of sad to see what's going on. And so Paul says, like, you're not just leaving religion, you're leaving Jesus. That's what's happening. If you leave the grace of the gospel and the good news of the gospel, and you start adding things onto it, you're deserting this. And nobody's getting saved after this. Like, it's not Christianity. So in verse 8, the apostle Paul says this. He says, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be under God's curse, as we've already said. So now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. He's like, this is pretty serious stuff. This is not just like, guys, you're just, come on. I'll give you an 85 out of 100. This is a zero. And he said, this is a curse. You can't add Jesus plus performance, Jesus plus tradition, Jesus plus rituals. You can't add Jesus plus good works. You can't Add Jesus plus the right denomination. He's like, if you do this, you're missing it. And that's why his language becomes even stronger. And he says, if you. Even if an angel from heaven appears, like, I know I'm an apostle, but even if an angel appears and says something different, like, it's not the gospel. It's not what you need. Now, I'm gonna jump into the deep water with this one. I guess I've been doing this lately, but recently, the Pentagon reclassified religions. I don't know if you pay attention to this. I devour the news, like, every day. And my wife said, what. What happened on the Internet? You know, like, she's like, you just read it all. I just. I tried to stay really informed. And the Pentagon put Mormonism not in the Christian religion. Mormons went crazy. They went crazy on this. No. And they. And there's a great book that was written years ago, Kingdom of the Cults. And the guy just basically, great, brilliant theologian. He said all these denominations, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian. And he said, the first one out is Mormon. They're so close. They're so close. But they're not a Christian religion. It's Mormon. And if you know the history of Mormonism, they believe that Moroni was an angel that appeared to Joseph Smith and then gave him new writings, tablets, and the correct revelation. And Mormons would actually say they finally got it right, that the disciples actually did it wrong. The message got wrong and watered down. And so God had to send Moroni to Joseph Smith to give a new like. And you look at. How do they reconcile Galatians? Like that one right there. Like, even if an angel appears to you. No, no. And their way of going around it is they say, no, no, this is like the original. And we're just getting back to the original. Okay. Now, I'm not gonna debate the Mormons today, but I just wanted you to be aware of this as a church. That verse just says, no, no angel is coming, giving you a further revelation, a deeper insight into this. And he says, if you do this, if you get away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that he paid the price for our sins. And it's just Jesus, if you get away from this, he says they're a curse, anathema. Anyone. Not a specific group. He's saying, anybody that adds to this. All right, let's get heavy. And it's more of a teaching, less of a sermon. But I love that we're able to dig into this and to look into this message and say, okay, how does this apply to our life? So he's super strong with this. And I thought about this. Why do people change the gospel? Why are we tempted to change the gospel? Why did they do it there? Well, they. They probably liked the rules. They thought it was more certain. Like, you know, if you got rules, how many of you have rules? You have a checklist. If you have a checklist, you can be like, check. All right, he's done that. She's done that. All right, Got that badge. And so they like it because there's a comfort that is there in a checklist. Sometimes we change the gospel. People change the gospel for approval because the gospel demands that you die to yourself. And it demands that you say yes to Jesus and turn from everything else and repent of your sins. And so people, like, wanna be approved. Sometimes people change the gospel because they don't like repentance. And it's like, everybody's getting in. You don't even need to worry. I'm like, no, no, time out. Not everybody gets in. You have to accept Jesus Christ. But people like, well, it's this good news of Jesus. And everybody said, no, no. Sometimes, like, we wanna replace grace with performance because that's controllable. We want a religion that is controllable. So we don't get to edit the Lord's message. We don't get to edit it. And Paul's saying, you don't get to edit it. Nobody gets to edit his message. Not even an angel gets to edit the message. All right, verses 11 and 12. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Paul is trying to, like, really talk to the churches there because he's under attack. And they're saying, see, well, we kind of know James and John and Peter and. And we're kind of gravitating to them. And Paul, who's Paul again? It's crazy. He starts this church and they're kind of attacking Paul, and he's like, guys, I didn't dream this on my own. Like the gospel that I'm preaching to you. I didn't dream it up. I got it straight from Jesus. I brought it to you. I'm an apostle too. And I want you to know that's my credibility. And he says, I'm doing this. I want you to understand the gospel isn't ours to edit. It's a revelation that's received and we just say, yes, Lord. We don't revise it. And he's really arguing. I mean, you could feel like as I was studying this, I was, like, really realizing, like, Paul's struggling because they're editing and changing it. And the frustration, like, guys, it's right here. And you changed it into something different. You edited it and made it totally different than what it's supposed to be. And it reminded me of a time that I had in the last couple years. I was with a friend. I was with a friend. And, you know, we known each other for years, decades, actually. And he said, hey, I just want you to let you know that my wife and I, we've changed our beliefs. And I said, are you, you're Christian, right? He goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. He goes, but we just feel like the gospel is too restrictive. And, you know, it's just, it's too offensive. Like, the people we live around are really offended by it. And so we believe that, like, God wants it to be more sexually permissive, so the people in our community, it's going to be more sexually permissive, and so we don't hold what we use. I was shocked. I was like, like, so what? It just, It's a new. So I said, so what verse convinced you of that? And he was like, oh, no, it wasn't a verse. I said, okay. Was it a moment in prayer? Like, what convinced you to just, like, God is now sexually permissive, and the gospel is not the same, and it's out, you know, and it's okay. And he goes, well, these are the people in my neighborhood. Like, it's just culturally offensive, and it's hard for them to really kind of, you know, lean into God. And so we just, we just, we just think the church is wrong. Like, we're, it's wrong. And I said, wow. I, I, so I can. The frustration. I mean, like, you know, I'm just. How many know, inside, I'm at, like, 100, but on the outside, I'm trying to be 10, you know, like, you know, and I'm just like, I can't believe that you're just changing it. You're just modifying it. I, I feel that same intensity with the apostle Paul. He's like, guys, what new revelation did you get? Like, do you not understand what I taught you? Do you not see this? And he's just, there's a frustration that is there. And by the way, going back to that story about my friend, like, just, we don't change the gospel because of culture. We don't. It is what it like. We don't change it because of culture. We don't change what the word of God says because the people around us don't like it. I mean, we don't try to make Christianity a better upgraded version or a less offensive version or less demanding version. We preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we preach the holiness that he wants us to live in. So Paul says, it's not ours to edit. We receive this, we don't revise it. I gotta go fast here. I got just a few minutes with a lot of verses for. You have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how I intensely persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my father. And he's like, not trying to win an argument right here now. He's trying to say, I'm going to use my own life as an example. And by the way, I'm really glad that Paul was willing to use his own life as an example. He wasn't like, nothing to see here. He's like, guys, I was terrible. I was terrible. And he throws it out there. All right, let me continue verse 15 through 17. But when God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. And you're kind of like, why does he say that? Remember I was saying the people in Galatia were trying to say, James, John and Peter are more right than Paul. And they were having a fight against. And he's like, guys, I'm just telling you, I didn't learn this from James, John and Peter. I got this from Jesus. This is straight from Jesus. This is raw gospel. It's right. Like, it's right here. Okay? And these people are just. I'm gonna just Continue on verse 18. Cause. All right, I'm running out of time. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stay with him. That's Peter. And stay with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother, I assure you. It's interesting. He stops right in the middle. Like, I assure you before God that I am writing you as no lie. He's like, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report. The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me. Okay? Right here at this point, he's saying, only God could do this. I am proof of the gospel. I can't even believe that I am an apostle. Had I caught an apostle, I would have killed the apostle, okay? And now I am an apostle. Like, God got ahold of me. I heard a sermon once, Paul, the guy who got saved, not wanting to get saved. Like, he's like, I'm trying to fight Jesus to fight the apostles. And then he gets saved, not even trying to get saved. It's incredible. This is what happens. The gospel comes into your life, the good news of Jesus Christ, and you get forgiven. And then you change the other side of the gospel. So the people in Galatia are trying to say, change first, do all these things, and then you can get in on the gospel. And Paul says, when you get in on the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, guess what happens? These changes start happening in your life. See, the people in Galatia were saying, let's work from the outside in. We'll do all the external changes and then you'll be right with God. And the gospel says, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you're right with God. And from the inside out come the changes in your life. It's a beautiful thing. Beautiful thing. We're also gonna learn in Galatians that it's really the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to make this change. And I want to say this, that that's still the the greatest evidence of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Change lives. Change lives. When somebody can look at you, say, I know how proud you were. I know how crazy you were. I know how lost you were. And now I look at you, it can only be Jesus. And I wanna share a story from an all staff day that we had. We had an all staff day. And I said, you know what? If you were saved at a later age in life, we wanna hear your testimony. So many of us were saved at young age. I was saved at seven. Becca was saved at seven. You know, I said, if you were saved at a later age in life, just go on up here, tell us how you, who you were and what you were, and I'll never forget Mona was my assistant at the time. Nicest lady on our staff. I'm not kidding. Nicest lady, gray haired, nicest lady on a staff. And she gets up there and she goes, I'm thinking, like, I thought Mona got saved, like, at age three, you know what I mean? And so she's in the line. I'm like, what does Mona got? You know? And Mona, you know, she gets up there and she goes, I just want you to know that I used to be into drugs. I was. Whoa, Mona. And she goes, I was with a drug dealer. Whoa, Mona. She goes, I dealt drugs. I was like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me, Mona? Oh, how'd you get past the filter? You know, like, the grace got her by the filter. Grace got her by the filter. And I was blown away. Cause you see her now and you be, there's no way. No way. And praise God. And by the way, don't be like, where's Mo? Like, you were there too. By a show of hands, come on, you don't have to tell your story. But by a show of hands, in this church, all these services, come on, we're going to all the campuses. If you would say, I don't even want Pastor Rob to know what I did. Like, you just say, but I'm so different now than what I was. Jesus sent me. Come on, raise your hand. You were saved later in life. Look at that. Even in our staff, praise God. That's the power of the gospel. That's the power of the gospel. You didn't change to get accepted by God. You grabbed the grace of God, the good news that you could be forgiven. And then he changed you into his image. And Paul's like, hey, I was the least likely to be saved in my high school yearbook. I was least likely to be saved. And now I'm saved. And now I'm changed. And what a powerful testimony this is. And he says in verse 24, and they praise God because of me. That was a jet tour through chapter one and couple things I wanna just make sure we grab hold of. It's Jesus plus nothing. It's what he did. It's his grace. That's how we're saved. We don't work our way into salvation, but once we give our life to Jesus and we're saved, salvation works its way out of us. And you say, will this change? Yeah, it changes. You start to get formed into his image and you change. And then people praise God because they're like, I know what you used to be like, and I see what you are now. Wow. Only God can do that. And I want us to remember this. Don't abandon the gospel. Don't redefine the gospel. And let the gospel redefine you and reshape you into his image so that he can get all the glory. I think Galatians is gonna be a great series for us to go through. I hope that we can do some value adds with it and that you'll lean into this and that we'll see changed lives and we'll be able to say, God, thank you for the changed lives that we're seeing. Lord, I pray right now, as we go into this and as we dig into your word with Galatians, I just pray that we would see that. That it's you plus nothing. I think even the other day at our staff meeting, we sang, give me Jesus. You could have this whole world like, I need nothing else. And it was said, I don't want anything else. I just want Jesus. You are my treasure. And so, God, thank you for sending Jesus to rescue us. Thank you for grace and thank you for this letter of correction that even reminds us it's Jesus. It's Jesus. We're not reimagining the gospel. We can't improve the gospel. We're not gonna take away from it. We're not gonna add. We're gonna preach the gospel and the message of Jesus Christ. Blessing upon this church as we preach the message of Jesus Christ. In your name we pray. Amen and amen.