♪ theme music ♪

(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,

an in-depth, interactive study

of the Word of God.

I'm glad you joined us
we're in the middle

of a series on "The gospel in Galatians."

Actually, we just started,

but we're already learning amazing lessons

for our lives today,

The precious Good News,

and how when we try to share it,

sometimes people resist the truth

as it is in Jesus.

Our topic today: Paul's Authority
and Gospel,

and there are amazing lessons for us.

So we're glad you joined us
for Hope Sabbath School.

And hello to the team;
we're back again.

The Gospel in Galatians,

what did we learn

from the first part of our series

about Paul being transformed?

What was the most important
takeaway lesson for you?

Well, we'll share that as we study today.

I hope you were with us.

If you missed the first part
of this series,

you can go to our website:
hopetv.org/hopess.

You can watch part one

of "The Gospel in Galatians."

And we're always happy to hear from you.

You can write to us at sshope@hopetv.org.

Here are just a few emails.

You know, we know of 150 countries.

You say, "Derek, how do you know?"

Well, we have one Android app

that's being used in 150 countries,

so there's a lot of people joining us

for Hope Sabbath School.

And we've got an Apple app.

By the way, for those of you

who have an iPhone or an iPad,

you can download Hope Sabbath School.

It's free, and you can access the program.

Got an email just a few weeks ago

from someone who in China watched
one program,

went back and watched 100 hours

of interactive Bible studies
in our archives.

So it's there for you.

Here are a few notes.

One from Albert in Namibia,

that's former German West Africa,

you know, just north of South Africa,

and Albert writes, "It's so edifying

to watch and listen

to you explain the Bible so clearly.

My wife and I enjoy

your Bible study every Friday evening

in preparation for the Sabbath.

I am a teacher, and I gain

a lot of knowledge from your classes,

which I apply during my class," good?

That's what we want, download the outline.

"What I want to know is

whether your class is consisting

of all student pastors

because you all seem to know the Bible."

I guess you could tell, Albert, by the way

that everybody laughed

that they're not all student pastors.

"May the Good Lord continue blessing

and giving you spiritual wisdom

as you share the Good News

with the whole world," amen?

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) So what's the takeaway there?

And the answer is,

we can all do something for Jesus, right?

Whether we're teachers or counselors

or physicians or homemakers

or construction workers or pastors, right?
Bible teachers.

We can all do something for Jesus.

Thanks for writing to us, Albert.

Here's a note from Kwasi in Ghana.

Anyone with Ghanaian roots?

Oh, Joshua! Ghanaian roots, all right.

Have a little wave here for Kwasi. Okay.

"I live in Accra," he writes.

"Your Sabbath School discussion

has made me an extraordinary Christian

and has blessed me.

It's built my personal relationship
with Jesus."

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) "It's made me a Bible student!"

This is all good, isn't it?

"It's helped me organize

some children in my community

to share the Word of God with them."

It gets better and better,
doesn't it, Mario?

"Every Sunday morning we do exercise

with the children also

to strengthen our physical bodies."

It sounds like a pretty holistic approach,
right?

Teach the Word of God,

help them to be healthy.

"It's my desire that the Hope
Sabbath School discussion

will be translated
into different languages

around the world; the program is amazing."

Well, I want to tell you

that it's already happening

in different part of the world,

that Hope Sabbath School

is being broadcast in other languages,

also with closed captioning,

but you pray for us, Kwasi,

because we're praying it could go

to every nation, kindred, tongue,
and people.

Thanks for being part of the miracle.

Here's a note from Ludwig in Peru.

He's written to us before.

Ludwig says, "I'm always instructed

by your Friday evening Bible study.

I thank God for all of you.

This program is so didactic
and instructive."

I think he looked up a few words there
for us.

"Big hug to all of you,

and God bless you all," amen?

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Thanks for writing.

I know, Ludwig, you said

you've been learning

a lot of English, too,

while you've been watching the broadcast.

Here's a note from Tammy in New Jersey

in the United States of America.

She says, "Thank you so much

for what you do; it's an encouragement.

I love Hope Sabbath School.

I watched the first episode

of Hope Sabbath School in December 2016

during a Sabbath school breakfast

I'd planned for our church.

I'd heard of Hope Channel,

but not having a television,

I'd never seen it before

and never seen Hope Sabbath School.

Well, I loved it, and I was thrilled

when I found out you could get it online."

It's easy; you can get the app,

or you can watch it online,
hopetv.org/hopess.

And she concludes, "May God
continue abundantly

to bless your ministry.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I love being a member

of Hope Sabbath School."

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) All right, and by the way,

she's involved in a children's ministry

there in New Jersey,

and so she can do

an interactive Bible study with us

as part of Hope Sabbath School.

One last note, from Trinidad and Tobago.

That's in the beautiful Caribbean.

Just a short note, Leslie Ann writes

and says, "I'm from the island
of Trinidad and Tobago."

I guess that's considered one country,
isn't it?

"I enjoy watching and doing the lesson.

I also enjoy watching Jason

sing the Scripture songs."

Well, Jason, why don't you wave
to Leslie Ann,

and we're going to sing

the Scripture song right now, actually.

We've got a brand new song for this series

from the gospel in Galatians.

It's taken from Galatians, chapter 2,

which says, "I have been crucified
with Christ,

and I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me," it's a miracle.

If you haven't learned the song,

go to our website, download the song,

the sheet music, so you can sing along.

We're going to sing it right now.

♪ music ♪

(Derek) There's so much included

in that one verse in Galatians 2:20,21.

The Son of God loves you

and gave Himself for you;
isn't that awesome?!

I just want to pray

that Jesus would be lifted up today

as we study the gospel in Galatians.

Father in Heaven, thank You.

Thank You that God so loved the world

that You sent Your one and only Son

that whoever believes in Him
should not perish

but have everlasting life.

We see sickness and death all around us.

We know that sin

brings death and destruction,

but I thank You

that You've given us hope in Your Word

even today, hope in Jesus.

And I pray as we study

the Gospel in Galatians,

as we study Paul's authority and gospel,

that You would work in supernatural ways

in each of our hearts,

Hope Sabbath School members

all around the world.

May lives be blessed today

to bring honor to Your name.

I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Now before we go
into Paul authority,

I want to go back

to our previous study, Nicole.

How could it be

that God could take a rebel

who was forcing people

to blaspheme and wreaking havoc

(you remember that word?)
in the church

and call him "My chosen servant"

to be an ambassador

for the Gospel message?

How can that happen?

(Nicole) Because God loves each and every
one of us and wants us all to be saved.

And so He uses us wherever we are to
spread His Word to those He wants to save.

In terms of this case, He knew he was
a Zealot, even if it was a Zealot

in the time before he was transformed,
and he was doing evil things.

God knew that he was a Zealot
and when he was actually changed,

he'd be a Zealot for Him.

And so God was like, "I know the end
from the beginning, and so, therefore,

this person's going to be the person
I need at this time to bring my Word

to those who need it."

(Derek) Is that encouraging?

That God sees the potential

even in the midst of all our stumblings?

We're going to talk about Paul

as he writes now.

Many think this was

one of the earliest documents

that we have in what we call
the New Testament,

about 49-50 A.D.

And it's written because of a problem
in the church,

but by then, even at that time,

we're going to see

that the Christian church recognized

the Holy Spirit working in this man,

name changed from Saul of Tarsus to...?

(Team) Paul.

(Derek) Paul the Apostle.

So let's start in 2 Peter, chapter 3.

We're going to come back
to Galatians here,

but Jonathan, would you read for us

2 Peter 3, verses 15 and 16.

I want you to listen carefully as Peter,

in some ways a little humorous,

he says, "Paul is not always easy
to understand,"

but there's a testimony

about the authority of his work.

(Jonathan) I'm reading
from the New International Version:

(Derek) So, I've always read that

and though, "Oh, it's not always easy

to understand Paul," which is true.

Sometimes I read a text, and I go,

"What does that mean?"

Maybe I need to come

to Hope Sabbath School

and get a little help

from sisters and brothers.

But there were a couple
of little phrases there

that showed that Peter,

one of the church leaders and apostle,

recognized the work of the Apostle Paul

as being from God.

What did you hear?

Laurel, did you hear something

that caught your attention?

(Laurel) It just was amazing that Peter,

who was part of the original 12
with Jesus,

recognized that Paul was also called,

even though he wasn't with Christ

when He was physically on Earth.

(Derek) That's right; He wasn't

one of the twelve, right?

So he has seen something in his ministry.

Didn't Jesus say, "By their fruit..."

(Derek, Team) "...you shall know them."

So he had seen something

from the fruit of his ministry

that said, "He's an apostle."

What does <i>apostle</i> mean, by the way?
Do you know?

One who's sent out, right?

"He's an apostle of Jesus Christ," okay?

What else, even in the wording
of the passage,

did you see something?

Christine and then Marcus.

(Christine) It says here in verse 15

that God gave Paul the wisdom
and the knowledge...

(Derek) Aha, wisdom, I think the way
Jonathan read it,

wisdom comes from God, all right?

Anywhere else, a little clue, Jason?

(Jason) In verse 16, he talks about those

who twist and distort the meaning,

and he's saying they do it

to their own destruction.

And so, you can deduce from that,

if you understand it correctly,

that's the way to salvation.

He's preaching the message of God.

(Derek) That's an interesting thought,

and actually there's another phrase
attached to there

which is important, too.

Did you notice it, Peter?

(Peter) It says, "as the rest
of the Scripture."

(Derek) Okay, so he's including
Paul's testimonies,

not only as a wisdom from God
like Christine said

but as part of Scripture, God breathed.

It's Peter who says all Scripture

is God breathed, right?

No private interpretation,

as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

All right, but that's interesting.

Also, implicitly he's saying,

"If you listen, it's for your salvation,"

that gives it authority.

"If you twist it,

it's for your destruction."

All right, so Paul is recognized

by at least Peter, but I think

we could say by the Christian community.

God's at work in him,

and God is speaking through him.

We're going to look at one of his letters
in this series,

the gospel to the Galatians.

The standard format of a letter...

did you find this from your study?

What's the standard format of a letter

back in those times, Tricia Lee?

(Tricia Lee) I don't know about back then,

but I do know like when you're
in grammar school,

you're taught that you start
with a greeting...

(Derek) Okay.

(Tricia Lee) ...or some type
of salutation,

and then you have who it's to

and then the subject of the message,

and you kind of end off with some type of,
you know...

(Derek) Farewell or closing remark or?

Is that pretty much, Jason,

the way it looked in these letters

during the New Testament era?

(Jason) Largely yes, and you generally

start with the positive, too.

So you'll say, "Oh, you guys,

this is a nice thing about you,"

whether you're writing a letter now

or these letters of Paul.

They're always saying,

"This is a good thing that you have,"

"This is what I like about you."

(Derek) That would probably

still work today, right?

If you've got a problem with someone,

you can say, "Here's some things

I really appreciate about you, but,"

and talk about a problem.

And that's pretty much standard format,

greeting, some word of thanksgiving,

body of the letter,

and then some closing remark,

and typically with Paul

it would include, "the grace of the Lord

be with you," right, something like that.

Let's see how he begins

the letter to the Galatians.

Galatians, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2,

and, Alyssa, if you'd read that for us,

and then we'll compare that.

If someone could find
Ephesians 1, verse 1,

and Colossians 1, verse 1,

let's see if they're similar

or if there are some differences.

By the way, all of those letters

were written by the Apostle Paul.

(Alyssa) In the New International Version
it says:

(Derek) Okay, that's his greeting there.

Keep that in mind.

Does someone have Ephesians?

Joshua, chapter 1 and verse 1.

(Joshua) I'll be reading from the New
King James Version.

The Bible says:

(Derek) All right, so that's to the church
in Ephesus,

then he writes to the church in Colossae,

we call that Colossians, Marcus, verse 1.

(Marcus) I'll be reading from the King
James Version:

(Derek) So what did they have in common,

those three opening salutations?

What did they have in common?

(Team Member) He's an apostle.

(Derek) Okay so, Paul, an apostle,
gives his name

like we do even today, right?

Gives the name and says

he's an apostle of Jesus.

What was different, Mario?

What did you see different

in the Galatian intro?

(Mario) He expounds on that.

He says not by the will of man

but of God, you know.

So you can tell

that he needs to clarify something.

(Derek) Why would he have to do that,
anybody?

He didn't do it to Ephesus or to Colossae.

Why would he have to do that for Galatia,
Alyssa?

(Alyssa) This is still early.

Remember, he had to go to all those places

and represent himself anew

to each new church,

so maybe he was still kind of having
to defend

that God did call him.

(Derek) Possibly, of course we haven't

read the letter yet, have we?

That is a possibility, though.

He's like, "You may not know me,"

but actually there's something else

going on here. Nicole?

(Nicole) His letter talks
about false teachings,

so in this case he's saying, "Listen,
I'm from God.

I'm an apostle of God.

I'm bringing you the truth and the Word

that you need to hear,

and I want you all to be careful

of what else is going on around you

that may draw you away from Christ."

(Derek) And implied (stay with me now),

implied is that these people

who are giving these false teachings

are saying what about Paul?

(Team) That he's not from God.

(Derek) He's not a true apostle, right?

Or he's sent by man and not sent by God.
Jonathan?

(Jonathan) It seems like multiple times
throughout this that he's

emphasizing this, that, "My authority
doesn't come

based on other people; it's God."

It's the truth that matters
and not the people.

(Derek) Well let's take a look

as we read on in Galatians.

Jason, if you could read

the first six verses,

it will include the initial salutation
that we read,

verses 1 through 6.

He's going to go pass

saying thank you about anything,

and he's going to come right to the issue
at hand.

Let's take a look, Galatians 1:1-6.

(Jason) I'll be reading

from the New King James Version,

Galatians, chapter 1, verses 1 through 6:

(Derek) Whoa! So something's up here.

We're going to get right to it,

but he has kind of given us
the gospel message

right in those first few verses.

How would you summarize
the gospel message

from those verses? Peter.

(Peter) The salutation
that he gives there, grace and peace,

is very interesting to me,

and is actually used

almost in every letter,

and Peter uses it,

"Grace and peace to you."

""Grace and peace to you."

And it's almost like, the heart of God,

full of grace, brings something

to our hearts, peace,

and He does that through forgiveness,

and this is given to all men.

(Derek) So even in the greeting
you're seeing a message.

Many Bible scholars would say

grace would be a more typical
New Testament,

and shalom, or peace,

would be more from the Hebrew heritage,

but we're bringing both

in Christ Jesus, right?

What's the message?

What did you hear

in the first six verses, anybody?
Yes, Alyssa?

(Alyssa) Christ died for us,

but in accordance that God
the whole Trinity is working together.

Also he mentions that when we've been
transformed by that message,

we give glory back to Him.

(Derek) Yeah, "He gave Himself
for our sins,"

is the way my Bible translates it,

"that he might deliver us from..."?

(Team) Evil.

(Derek) "...this present evil age,

according to the will of our God
and Father,

to whom be glory,"

and then he, like, "God is awesome."

You know, he kind of ends

his little statement there.

But he up front says,

"This is God's plan of salvation,
through Jesus," right?

"...to deliver us
from the present evil age.

What is wrong with you?!"
(Thank you, Nicole.)

"Where did you get some other gospel?"

Some other...what does
the word <i>gospel</i> mean, do you know?

(Team) Good News.

(Derek) "Where do you find some other news

that isn't good news at all?"

So he obviously is dealing immediately
with a challenge.

Now before we go into that,

a revelation about the Good News

was not only given to him, right?

Let's go back; in our first study
in this series,

we looked at that amazing
concise statement by Peter.

Do you remember that?

Guided by the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10, verses 34 to 43.

I want to hear that again.

I'm always amazed, Nicole,

if you could it for us...

I'm always amazed at the brilliance

of this concise statement

about the Gospel message.

And we know it's not because Peter says,

"Well, I'm a great scholar."

No, no, he was a fisherman

who wholly surrendered his life to God,

and by the Spirit he's speaking.

So let's hear his testimony.

(Nicole) I'm reading Acts 10,
verses 34 through 43,

and I'm reading from the New
International Version, and it says:

(Derek) I love that;
it's so powerful, isn't it?

And by the way, when he says,
"as all the prophets,"

he kind of says that it's the testimony

of the whole Scripture.

It reminds me of a Bible study
that Jesus gave.

Do you remember when that was,
Tricia Lee?

(Tricia Lee) When they were
walking to Emmaus.

(Derek) Right, first to Cleopas

and the other disciple

on the road to Emmaus,

but then with the disciples

in the Upper Room.

And He said all of these prophecies,

all of the Scriptures, what?

(Team) "Testify about Me."

(Derek) Yeah, they "testify about Me,

and not only about Me

but that I had to suffer." Why?

He suffered for our sins, right?

He bore our sins that He might...?

What was that wonderful word?

(Team Member) Deliver us.

(Derek) Deliver us
from this present evil age.

Wonderful news, but all of that...

You say, "That's a great summary;

I'm going to write it down, Acts 10:34-43.

If anybody non-Christian come and says,

'Could you give it to me

in like just a couple of minutes?'"

You say, "Well, let me read to you

what the Holy Spirit said through Peter."

But we could get even more concise
than that.

Someone have John 3:16,

would read it for us?

Anybody have John 3:16?

You say, "I'd like to repeat it."

John 3:16, got a volunteer?

Jason, read it for us, please.

(Jason) I'll be reading from the New
King James Version, John 3:16:

(Derek) Well that challenges

the whole idea that it's

just for the Jews, right?

It says "whoever."

God so loved the...?

(Team) World.

(Derek) I mean it's right there

in that very simple statement.

So, I have a question for you, Mario.

Why do people make the Gospel message,

the Good News about what God has done

for us in Jesus,

why do people make it so complicated?

(Mario) Oh, wow, we have something
inside of us

that wants to give out steps or processes
to accomplish things.

I mean, in our jobs and in school,

there's this system that tells us,
you know,

you have to do this and this and this,

and then you can get what you want.

So it's hard for us to conceive

that a God can love us

and give something to us

without us having to do something
to earn it,

but that it is a gift

if we would just submit to His will...

(Derek) Now the New Testament

and especially the writings of Paul

are all about a new creation.

They're all about deliverance

from the present evil age,

but that is the <i>fruit</i>

of accepting the Gospel message.

Somehow we try to make it

more complicated than "whoever believes
in Him."

We've got several hands.

Let's take a moment to reflect on this.

(Harold) One way, and we have
seen this, actually,

throughout the New Testament,

what we studied last time, traditions.

At times we fall into a routine,

as Tricia Lee mentioned
in a previous study,

that at times we are so ingrained...

we get so comfortable that we believe

that that's the way to go to be saved.

(Derek) That's maybe even

what the Bible teaches, right?

Because we've done it for so long,

or what our religious teacher told us.

(Harold) Yes, and Jesus even rebuked
the Pharisees

because, "You come to Me,"

you know, with your mouth;

you're worshiping with your mouth
and everything.

But yet you come to Me

by the commandments of men."

And this is found in Matthew,
chapter 15.

(Derek) Right, so that could happen

for us, too, right? Tricia Lee?

(Tricia Lee) He's reminding us
that we're in an evil age.

The devil is out there
trying to deceive us.

From the garden he said,
"Did God really say?"

And when we have simple truths
about salvation, that doubt comes

into our minds like, is it really
that easy to be saved through Christ?

You can hang your doubts on anything,
but it's just like, we have to believe

the true Word that God says
and not question this simple path

that God already laid out.

(Derek) I guess there's two approaches
that the devil could bring.

One would be to say

it's not that simple, right?
It's more complicated,

or it's not even true.

This is not true,

but it's not that simple, you know?

(Tricia Lee) Is He really
going to forgive you if you ask Him?

(Derek) Or maybe it's for someone else,

but would it really be for you?

Anybody else, why do we make it
so complicated, Jonathan?

(Jonathan) I think sometimes we really
want it to be...

It's an issue of pride.

I mean like, if I can make all these
so wonderful thoughts and ideas,

then it becomes about me and about what
I'm doing or what I'm thinking

or having the right knowledge, but this is
so simple, like a child can understand.

(Derek) Didn't Jesus say something
about we need to become as little children

if we would enter the Kingdom?

(Jonathan) That's humbling.

(Derek) It requires humility?
Yes, Peter?

(Peter) I was thinking, too,

that sometimes maybe...
can God be that good?

Can it be that good?

(Derek) You mean a distorted picture

of the character of God

could hold me back

from believing that God could be

that good to me.

(Peter) Right, right.

(Derek) Part of the reason

we study the Bible

is to find out the truth about God, right?
Joshua?

(Joshua) I believe it was along the lines

of what Jonathan said.

He mentioned that, you know,

the Gospel is even for little children,

as easy that they can understand it.

And I remember as a child

I always saw the Gospel

as something that was easy to digest,

like Jesus loves me,

He wants to save us from our sins,

we're going to Heaven one day,

and it was that simple.

But then as I got older,

things started to become more and more
and more complicated.

People are like, "Oh! This prophecy,
that prophecy."

"We have to be saved through this."

"If you do this,
this is going to happen to you."

And your mind just has

this, for some people,
a spiritual breakdown.

Like, "Whoa, it takes all of that now?

Every move that I make now,

I have to be worried if God is

going to like me or not like me?

Is He going to strike me from Heaven?"

And I think that we lose touch

of that real essence of who Christ is,

making things complicated,
as we've been discussing.

(Derek) "Whoever believes in Him

should not perish."

But of course we need Scripture

to know how He is.

Otherwise we could
make up some Jesus, right?

The Bible is crucial,

and Jesus, when He said, "Baptize

in the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit,"

He did say, "Teach them

to observe all things I've commanded you."

But all of that is an outgrowth

of my relationship with Him

as my Savior, right?

Well let's go back

to the letter of Galatians,

and, Laurel, could you read

Galatians 1, verses 6 through 9?

Like we noticed in the first part

(we read verse 6 already,

but read it again),

he skips over, "I'm really thankful

for so much about you,"

and comes in - boom!

"We've got a problem here."

Let's read verses 6 through 9
of Galatians 1.

(Alyssa) I'll be reading from the New
King James Version:

(Derek)