Who Taught You What You Believe

Speaker A: This brand new day. This is Scripture Links daily dose of Inspiration for Tuesday, October 6, 2026. And today is National Noodle Day. Now, I like a good noodle, especially, especially those Amish noodles you get on the buffets or in the restaurants. When you go to an Amish restaurant, those, those are great. They're just these big thick things that are, are cooked in chicken broth and they are just so good. I make them at home, my dad makes them at home. And they're just as good as the, the ones at the Amish place. And I just love those things. So get yourself a big plate of noodles and enjoy this National Noodle Day. It also is national plus, plus Size Appreciation Day. Being a plus size person myself, we could take appreciation today for, for us even, well, even though, well, it's, it's plus Size Appreciation Day. So let's take it at that. Tony Dungy's birthday is today, and he was born in 1955. Of course. He's the, was the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also was the coach of the Indianapolis Colts. And so happy birthday to Tony Dungy. And on this day in 1893, Nabisco Foods invented the cream of wheat. You know, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever eaten cream of Wheat. Doesn't look appetizing to me. But that's, that's just my thing. Galatians, chapter number one is where we're going to be at today. And we're going to do a quick two part series this week about specifically about the Apostle Paul and his beginnings in his calling. His beginnings. And, and we're going to see here, we're going to look specifically at Galatians chapter one, verses 11 through 24. And today we're going to look at verses 11 through 17. And then tomorrow we'll look at verse 18 through 24 and we're gonna, we're gonna see some stuff about, about, about Paul's origin. Maybe that wasn't the right, right word to use there, but we're gonna see how, how, we're gonna see how Paul proves his calling and how he proves God's direction in his life. One of the big themes here in the book of Galatians is about falling victim to false teachings. Paul said in first in Galatians, chapter one, verses six through eight, he says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which, which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Paul had had. Galatia was one of the stops that Paul had made on his missionary journeys, and he. He preached the gospel to them. And somebody came in after Paul and started saying, well, you know, this isn't all the way true. You still have to work for your salvation. And so this church was starting to fall away from what Paul had taught them and falling victim into these false teachings. And we spent a great deal of time last week talking about these false teachings. And I encourage you to go back and take a look at, at last week's episodes. But Paul is trying to teach them here, teach his church at Galatia, teach us today, because we have hundreds, if not thousands and millions of false teachings going on out there and traditions that go against what the Scripture says. And we today, a lot of times don't know what is truth and what is false, what is truth, what is a counterfeit. And so we have to understand that. We have to have that spiritual discernment. But then the question comes in my mind, how do we know. How do we know that what we believe is true? Or let me put it this way. What is your belief based in? Is your belief based in what you've read in the scriptures, or is your belief based on what somebody had told you? Now, back in Paul's time, they didn't have the 66 books of the Bible like we have today. They had portions of the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, probably not everything in the Old Testament, but portions of it. And so they, you know, most likely in the church there, they wouldn't have had the Bible to preach out of. They would have had to be teaching things that somebody had taught them. And that's where we get into a little bit of trouble, because we got to make sure that what is being taught is the truth. What is being taught lines up with what the Bible says. And that's what. What Paul was trying to, to get them to understand because he gave them the gospel. He preached unto them the gospel that was given to him. So they therefore had to stand true on that word. And today we have to stand on the Bible, not what I say, not what your pastor says, not what whoever the. The biggest star tell it on TV and evangelism on tv, not what they say, but what God's word says. And let's look here, let's, let's break this down to take a look at that at Paul's testimony. Today we're going to take a look at Paul talking about his calling. And then tomorrow we're going to look at Paul reveals the beginning of his ministry. And I'm going to read for you Galatians chapter one, verses 11 through 17. And then we'll jump into it. Break this down. But I certify you brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man nor was taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem unto them which were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. All right, Paul's sharing his testimony here. There's three things I want us to look at today. The first one is that Paul's gospel is not based on the teachings or the traditions or the doctrines of man. We see that in verses 11 and 12 here when he says, but I certify you brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it. But by the revelation of Jesus Christ, Paul is making known where he received his gospel. He's making this church understand that. That the gospel that he preached on to them was not based on the traditions of man. It wasn't based on the doctrines of man. It was based on what was taught to him by Jesus Christ. He's not proclaiming what what man knows. He's not proclaiming what his opinion is. He's not proclaiming what the latest number one bestseller Christ book out there by some. Some pastor is saying. He's saying, this is what I was taught of God. This is what Jesus taught me and this is what I'm proclaiming unto you. He's doing that to. To. To. This is important because he is showing that the gospel that he preached under the Galatians is not based on man or man's tradition like those who are trying to present the false doctrine to them. He's saying, look, this is the truth. This is what Jesus taught me. This is what I was given. And I always tell you, you have to be aware of somebody today, now, not here in Paul's time, but somebody today that comes up to you and says I have a new revelation from God. I have a fresh word from God. Friends. God's revelation and God's word is in these 66 books of the Bible. And that's it. I firmly believe that. And I firmly believe every word that Paul received and Paul taught the churches that he went to in his men, in his missionary journeys was the truth was the word of God. And then in verses 13 and 14 he starts talking about his own failures, his own past, excuse me. And he says here for ye have heard of my conversation or my lifestyle in time past in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions my fathers. What Paul is talking about here is he's talking about his past failures. He's talking about his life before Christ. Because remember Paul was, was a Pharisee in his day. He was a religious leader. He knew the Old Testament, he knew the, the commandments inside and out of right up, upside down, forward, backward, any other direction you want to put it. He knew that. And in himself he couldn't wrap his mind around that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. He couldn't believe that. And, and as, as we read in the early parts of the book of Acts, Paul was going out and he was, he was persecuting the church, he was arresting the Christians. He was trying to stop out this new religion because he couldn't believe it. And we read in Acts chapter nine, I encourage you to check that out when you get some time. We read about his conversion when God called him. But look what he says about himself here. He persecuted the church of God and wasted the church of God. He said in verse 14. And he was growing, he was profiting and growing in the Jews religion above many equals in his own nation. Then he says, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. It's important that Paul shares the harsh reality of his past. To prove that his being an apostle, to prove that him being an apostle was nothing that a mere human could have ever convinced him of. It had to be Jesus that talked to him, that taught him and that brought him to the right spot. Notice now Here in verses 15 and 16.3, Paul talks about his calling. Look at what he says while he was, while he was out there persecuting the church while he was growing in his Jews religion, while he was being exceedingly zealous for the traditions. He says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Paul says that when it pleased God, when, when God finally put a stop to his, his ridiculous lifestyle of going out there and persecuting the church, you know, when it pleased God to stop him from doing that, he called him by his grace and verse 16 says, and revealed his Son in me that I might preach. Then he says immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. What he means there is, is he didn't go and seek out the knowledge of man. He went and he, he got his knowledge through the revelation of Jesus Christ. His, his work, his apostleship, his ministry is not based on man, but it's based on God. And Paul took this calling serious and he lived in that calling right up until the day he died. So what's this, all this got to do with us today? Looking back at, at Paul's testimony here, and, and what's that got to do with us? Well, it asked a question. Are you putting your belief and your traditions and your, your salvation, are you basing that on the word of God or are you basing it on the word of man? There's a difference. If your faith is built upon anything else other than the finished work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, then your, your faith and your salvation is built upon the wrong things. If your faith and your salvation is built on the traditions of man, it's built on the wrong things. If your faith and your, your salvation is built on the message that I preach or that your pastor preaches, it's built on the wrong things. It has to be built on Jesus and that's it. There is no other foundation. We've looked at that verse before. There is no other foundation to be, be laid other than Jesus. So what's your faith, what's your salvation built upon? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you and then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.