May 22 – Leading With Integrity

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in scripture and relevant
for.

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Today, May 22nd, Leading with
integrity.

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Think about the last time you
made a choice because of what

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other people would think.
Maybe you went along with

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something you weren’t
comfortable with.

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Maybe you stayed quiet when you
should have spoken up.

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Maybe you said something just
because it was the popular

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opinion, not because you
actually believed it.

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We all do it.
The pull toward fitting in and

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earning approval is one of the
most consistent pressures in

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life, and it doesn’t go away
with age.

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Proverbs chapter 16, verses 10
to 13 paint a picture of a

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leader whose words and decisions
are guided by God.

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The wise king doesn’t speak
carelessly or pursue what’s

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popular.
His mouth reflects something

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higher.
His lips are gracious.

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His judgement is sound, and the
underlying reason is that his

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heart is in God’s hands, turned
wherever God wills.

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That’s a remarkable image.
Not a leader driven by ego or

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the crowd, but one who is
genuinely responsive to God’s

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guidance.
And the principle isn’t just for

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kings.
It’s for anyone whose decisions

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are noticed by others.
Which, honestly, is all of us.

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Galatians.
Chapter one, verse 10 makes the

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tension absolutely clear.
For am I now seeking the

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approval of man or of God?
Or am I trying to please man?

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If I were still trying to please
man, I would not be a servant of

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Christ.
Paul doesn’t soften it.

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He draws a straight line.
You can chase human approval or

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you can serve Christ.
But you cannot fully do both.

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Because the moment pleasing
people becomes your primary

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goal, it will eventually cost
you your integrity.

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You’ll say what you don’t
believe.

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You’ll do what you know isn’t
right, and slowly, quietly,

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you’ll drift from who God made
you to be.

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And then Galatians chapter 2,
verse 20 gives us the foundation

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that makes any of this possible.
I have been crucified with

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Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but

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Christ who lives in me and the
life I now live in the flesh.

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I live by faith in the Son of
God.

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That verse is one of the most
transformative statements in

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Scripture.
It reframes your entire

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identity.
You are not just trying harder

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to be a better person.
You are living a new life.

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One where the old need for
constant approval and self

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protection has been put to death
and something new and freer has

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taken its place.
When Christ lives in you, you

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don’t need the crowds validation
to feel secure.

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You don’t need to perform for an
audience.

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You can speak truth even when
it’s uncomfortable.

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You can make the right call even
when it costs you socially.

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Not because you’re fearless or
perfect, but because your

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identity isn’t built on what
others think of you.

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It’s built on who God says you
are.

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This is one of the most
countercultural things about

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following Jesus.
In a world that is constantly

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telling you to manage your image
and win people over, God is

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calling you to something deeper,
to let Him shape your heart,

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your words, and your choices
from the inside out, regardless

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of who’s watching or what
they’ll think.

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That kind of integrity builds
something that popularity never

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can.
It builds trust.

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It builds character.
It builds a life that actually

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means something, not just to
you, but to the people around

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you who are watching, even if
they never say so.

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Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for

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reminding me that I don’t need
to perform for anyone’s

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approval.
Help me to seek Your opinion

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above all else and to let that
guide my words and my choices.

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Where I’ve been chasing the
crowd instead of following you,

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bring me back.
I want to live with genuine

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integrity, not because people
are watching, but because Christ

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lives in me.
Make my life a reflection of

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your character in every
conversation, every decision,

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every ordinary moment.
In Jesus name, Amen.

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What if the battles hitting your
family are not random and your

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home can become a place where
darkness loses every right to

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stay?
The Secured Home is a powerful

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six book prayer series for
believers who want to guard

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their households with biblical
authority, peace, and confidence

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in Jesus Christ.
Book 1.

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Guarded Thresholds fortifies
every doorway, room, and entry

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point with prayerful protection.
Book 2.

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Cleansed Rooms helps reclaim
spaces marked by fear, unrest,

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and spiritual defilement.
Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes

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hidden access points and severs
every agreement with darkness.

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Book 4, Broken Assignments,
confronts oppression, torment,

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and attacks against your family.
Book 5, Consecrated Walls,

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dedicates every space and rhythm
of the home to God.

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Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how
to maintain spiritual order,

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rest, and holy presence every
day.

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Order now on Amazon or visit
prayerscripts.org.

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Now I invite you to spend time
with God in today’s three-year

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Bible reading plan.
Proverbs chapter 16, verses 10

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to 15.
World English Bible inspired

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judgments are on the lips of the
king.

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He shall not betray his mouth.
Honest balances and scales are

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Yahweh’s.
All the weights in the bag are

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His work.
It is an abomination for kings

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to do wrong, for the throne is
established by righteousness.

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Righteous lips are the delight
of kings.

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They value one who speaks the
truth.

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The King’s wrath is a messenger
of death, but a wise man will

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pacify it in the light of the
King’s face is life.

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His favor is like a cloud of the
spring rain.

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Galatians chapters one to two
world English Bible.

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Paul, an apostle, not from men,
nor through man, but through

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Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead,

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and all the brothers who are
with me to the assemblies of

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Galatia.
Grace to you and peace from God

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the Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for our

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sins, that He might deliver us
out of this present evil age

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according to the will of our God
and Father, to whom be the glory

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forever and ever.
Amen.

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I marvel that you are so quickly
deserting Him who called you in

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the grace of Christ to a
different good news.

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But there isn’t another good
news.

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Only there are some who trouble
you and want to pervert the good

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news of Christ.
But even though we or an Angel

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from heaven should preach to you
any good news other than that

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which we preach to you, let him
be cursed, as we have said

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before.
So I now say again, If any man

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preaches to you any good news
other than that which you

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received, let him be cursed.
For am I now seeking the favor

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of men or of God, or am I
striving to please men?

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For if I were still pleasing
men, I wouldn’t be a servant of

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Christ.
But I make known to you,

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brothers, concerning the good
news which was preached by me,

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that it is not according to man,
for I didn’t receive it from

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man, nor was I taught it, but it
came to me through revelation of

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Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my way of

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living in time past in the Jews
religion, how that beyond

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measure I persecuted the
Assembly of God and ravaged it.

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I advanced in the Jews religion
beyond many of my own age, among

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my countrymen, being more
exceedingly zealous for the

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traditions of my Father’s.
But when it was the good

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pleasure of God who separated me
from my mother’s womb and called

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me through His grace to reveal
His Son in me, that I might

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preach him among the Gentiles, I
didn’t immediately confer with

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flesh and blood, nor did I go up
to Jerusalem to those who were

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apostles before me.
But I went away into Arabia.

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Then I returned to Damascus.
Then after three years, I went

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up to Jerusalem to visit Peter
and stayed with him 15 days.

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But of the other apostles I saw
no one except James, the Lord’s

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brother.
Now about the things which I

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write to you, behold, before God
I’m not lying.

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Then I came to the regions of
Syria and Silesia.

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I was still unknown by face to
the assemblies of Judea which

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were in Christ.
But they only heard He who once

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persecuted us now preaches the
faith that he once tried to

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destroy.
So they glorified God in me.

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Then after a period of 14 years,
I went up again to Jerusalem

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with Barnabas, taking Titus also
with me.

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I went up by revelation, and I
laid before them the good news

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which I preach among the
Gentiles, but privately, before

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those who were respected, for
fear that I might be running or

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had run in vain.
But not even Titus, who was with

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me, being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised.

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This was because of the false
brothers secretly brought in,

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who stolen to spy out our
liberty, which we have in Christ

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Jesus, that they might bring us
into bondage, to whom we gave no

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place in the way of subjection.
Not for an hour that the truth

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of the good news might continue
with you, but from those who

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were reputed to be important.
Whatever they were, it makes no

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difference to me.
God doesn’t show partiality to

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man.
They, I say, who were respected,

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imparted nothing to me but to
the contrary, when they saw that

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I had been entrusted with the
good news for the uncircumcised,

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even as Peter with the good news
for the circumcised.

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For he who worked through Peter
in the apostleship with the

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circumcised also worked through
me with the Gentiles.

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And when they perceived they
grace that was given to me,

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James and Cephas and John, those
who were reputed to be pillars,

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gave to Barnabas and me the
right hand of fellowship, that

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we should go to the Gentiles,
and they to the circumcision.

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They only asked us to remember
the poor, which very thing I was

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also zealous to do.
But when Peter came to Antioch,

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I resisted him to his face,
because he stood condemned.

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For before some people came from
James, he ate with the Gentiles,

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but when they came he drew back
and separated himself, fearing

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those who were of the
circumcision, and the rest of

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the Jews joined him in his
hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas

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was carried away with their
hypocrisy.

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But when I saw that they didn’t
walk uprightly according to the

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truth of the good news, I said
to Peter before them all, If

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you, being a Jew, live as the
Gentiles do, and not as the Jews

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do, why do you compel the
Gentiles to live as the Jews do,

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we being Jews by nature, and not
Gentile sinners, yet knowing

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that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but

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through faith in Jesus Christ,
even we believed in Christ

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Jesus, that we might be
justified by faith in Christ and

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not by the works of the law,
because no flesh will be

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justified by the works of the
Law.

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But if while we sought to be
justified in Christ, we

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ourselves also were found
sinners.

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Is Christ a servant of sin?
Certainly not, for if I build up

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again those things which I
destroyed, I prove myself a law

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breaker.
For I, through the law, died to

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the law, that I might live to
God.

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I have been crucified with
Christ, and it is no longer I

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who live, but Christ lives in me
that life which I now live in

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the flesh.
I live by faith in the Son of

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God who loved me and gave
himself up for me.

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I don’t reject the grace of God,
for if righteousness is through

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the law, then Christ died for
nothing.

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Thanks for joining us on Bible
Chat, where Scripture meets

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everyday life.
If today’s devotional encouraged

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00:12:02,880 –> 00:12:06,480
you, share it with a friend and
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you won’t miss the next
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Until next time, stay rooted in
truth, anchored in hope and

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walking.
Daily with Jesus.