Galatians 2:1-10

Pastor Russell Johnson opened with a photo from his niece's wedding, wearing a Texas Rangers World Series ring that belongs to a family friend in the team's front office. He sent it to Chad Melton and his brother-in-law, and the first thing they wanted to know was how that ring got into his hand. Whose is it? What is the story? Fair questions, he said, since he would be the last guy to have one. People felt the same way about Paul, the last man who should have been preaching Jesus. Where did he get this, and who helped him? So in Galatians 2:1-10 Paul lays out a chain of custody. Three years before he met anybody, two weeks with Peter, then fourteen more years before he was back in Jerusalem at all. Pastor Russell said you do not wait fourteen years to get a second opinion on something you are worried about. Nobody summoned Paul. He went with famine relief in his hands. He brought Barnabas and Titus, an uncircumcised Greek: not a position paper, a person. Titus walked out exactly as he walked in. The pillars contributed nothing, gave Paul the right hand of fellowship, and asked one thing: remember the poor.