Nobody Taught Me This
FREE | Week 2 — Galatians 1:11–2:10 | Preached October 11, 2026
Adapted from the sermon by Pastor Daniel Kolson | Dwell New Life City
Where did your faith begin? You may remember the person who first read Scripture with you or the church where you learned to pray. Those gifts matter. In Galatians, Paul asks us to go one question deeper. Where did you meet Jesus?
Paul tells his story in the middle of a dispute about the origin of the gospel. His opponents had reason to question him. He had come to faith after Jesus’ earthly ministry and had a history of doing harm to Christians. Paul’s answer begins with what the risen Jesus did. The gospel came to him with an authority that neither his old reputation nor his new role could supply. His story matters because it gives us a place to see the message at work.
A church can teach us the vocabulary of faith and give us people to learn from. Those gifts can bring us right to the point where we have to respond to Jesus ourselves. Think of someone teaching you how to read a map. They can show you every turn. At some point you step out and discover what it means to trust the directions with your own feet. In the Christian life, that step is a response to the Person the Scriptures reveal.
The grace that interrupted Paul
In Galatians 1:11–12, Paul says he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ. His own history explains why that matters. Paul had been zealous for the traditions of his ancestors. He took his convictions seriously enough to persecute the church. All that sincerity gave him tremendous energy in precisely the wrong direction.
Then Jesus interrupted him. In Galatians 1:15–16, Paul puts God at the center of the story. God set him apart, called him by grace, and revealed His Son. Before Paul had a chance to repair his reputation or show what he could become, grace reached him. The person who had harmed the church would now proclaim the faith he once tried to destroy. When the churches in Judea heard the news, they glorified God. Paul’s changed life gave them a reason to praise the One who had changed it.
Paul has room to tell the truth about the harm he did because the center of his testimony is God’s mercy. His former zeal still matters in the story. It shows how easily conviction can run ahead of love and how thoroughly Jesus can redirect a life. After meeting Christ, Paul would spend his life building up the very people he had tried to tear down.
That helps us tell our own stories with a little more care. A testimony can hold both the consequences of our choices and the reality of grace. Someone who hurt others can take responsibility for that harm and still speak honestly about the mercy that reached them. Someone whose story has fewer dramatic turns can speak of quieter changes. Maybe you became able to ask for forgiveness, tell the truth when it cost you, or trust God through a season you could barely name. The shape of the story can vary. What matters is where it directs the listener’s attention.
Formation takes time
Paul went to Arabia and returned to Damascus. Three years passed before he went to Jerusalem to meet Cephas. Scripture gives few details about those early years. It does show a gap between the encounter that changed Paul’s life and the relationships and responsibilities that would come later. If you feel behind because your life with God is growing more slowly than you imagined, sit with that gap for a moment. Jesus can turn a life around in an instant and still take years to form the person who will carry the message.
It can be tempting to read those years as empty space because Paul gives so little detail. His account invites patience. God had called him, and he still needed time to grow into the life that calling would require. A long period of learning to pray, listen, receive correction, or serve faithfully in a small place can belong to the work God is doing in you. Paul’s itinerary leaves room for seasons of formation whose significance becomes clear only later.
Grace made room for Titus
When Paul later went to Jerusalem, he brought Titus, a Gentile believer. Titus made the theological question concrete. Would a brother who had put his faith in Christ have to be circumcised to be fully received? The leaders recognized the grace given to Paul, extended fellowship, and required no such qualification of Titus. They also asked Paul to remember the poor. Here was a unity that made room for people and gave them shared work to do.
Titus also helps us see the difference between receiving guidance from other believers and asking them to supply our standing with God. Paul went to Jerusalem, talked with the leaders, and received their fellowship. He took their relationship seriously. At the same time, Titus’s place in Christ could not depend on whether he adopted the culture of the people in the room. Healthy discipleship can teach us a great deal while honoring the grace God has already given us.
Consider where you see that balance in your own church. A person may learn new habits, discover parts of Scripture they have never read, and receive correction that helps them grow. All of that happens best when they know there is already a place for them in the family. The right hand of fellowship and the call to remember the poor belong together. Grace gives us a shared life, and that life turns outward in care for other people.
Faith you can live in
In this sermon, Pastor Daniel describes coming to faith after growing up outside church and living as an atheist. His story and Paul’s are different, but both invite a personal question. Where have you actually come to trust Jesus? Maybe your story involves years of quiet prayer. Maybe it began in a moment you can still date. In either case, the risen Christ is the center of it.
Reflect and Respond
Read Galatians 1:13–24 this week. Name one place where God’s grace reached you before you had any idea what to do next. If you tell that story to someone, give them enough room to see what Jesus did.
Watch the sermon
https://dwellnlc.org/media/bxsw7yk/sunday-service-10-11-2026-free-week-2-nobody-taught-me-this
Browse the FREE sermon series
https://dwellnlc.org/media/series/bsjhwnf/free-the-letter-to-the-galatians
Adapted from the sermon by Pastor Daniel Kolson | Dwell New Life City
Where did your faith begin? You may remember the person who first read Scripture with you or the church where you learned to pray. Those gifts matter. In Galatians, Paul asks us to go one question deeper. Where did you meet Jesus?
Paul tells his story in the middle of a dispute about the origin of the gospel. His opponents had reason to question him. He had come to faith after Jesus’ earthly ministry and had a history of doing harm to Christians. Paul’s answer begins with what the risen Jesus did. The gospel came to him with an authority that neither his old reputation nor his new role could supply. His story matters because it gives us a place to see the message at work.
A church can teach us the vocabulary of faith and give us people to learn from. Those gifts can bring us right to the point where we have to respond to Jesus ourselves. Think of someone teaching you how to read a map. They can show you every turn. At some point you step out and discover what it means to trust the directions with your own feet. In the Christian life, that step is a response to the Person the Scriptures reveal.
The grace that interrupted Paul
In Galatians 1:11–12, Paul says he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ. His own history explains why that matters. Paul had been zealous for the traditions of his ancestors. He took his convictions seriously enough to persecute the church. All that sincerity gave him tremendous energy in precisely the wrong direction.
Then Jesus interrupted him. In Galatians 1:15–16, Paul puts God at the center of the story. God set him apart, called him by grace, and revealed His Son. Before Paul had a chance to repair his reputation or show what he could become, grace reached him. The person who had harmed the church would now proclaim the faith he once tried to destroy. When the churches in Judea heard the news, they glorified God. Paul’s changed life gave them a reason to praise the One who had changed it.
Paul has room to tell the truth about the harm he did because the center of his testimony is God’s mercy. His former zeal still matters in the story. It shows how easily conviction can run ahead of love and how thoroughly Jesus can redirect a life. After meeting Christ, Paul would spend his life building up the very people he had tried to tear down.
That helps us tell our own stories with a little more care. A testimony can hold both the consequences of our choices and the reality of grace. Someone who hurt others can take responsibility for that harm and still speak honestly about the mercy that reached them. Someone whose story has fewer dramatic turns can speak of quieter changes. Maybe you became able to ask for forgiveness, tell the truth when it cost you, or trust God through a season you could barely name. The shape of the story can vary. What matters is where it directs the listener’s attention.
Formation takes time
Paul went to Arabia and returned to Damascus. Three years passed before he went to Jerusalem to meet Cephas. Scripture gives few details about those early years. It does show a gap between the encounter that changed Paul’s life and the relationships and responsibilities that would come later. If you feel behind because your life with God is growing more slowly than you imagined, sit with that gap for a moment. Jesus can turn a life around in an instant and still take years to form the person who will carry the message.
It can be tempting to read those years as empty space because Paul gives so little detail. His account invites patience. God had called him, and he still needed time to grow into the life that calling would require. A long period of learning to pray, listen, receive correction, or serve faithfully in a small place can belong to the work God is doing in you. Paul’s itinerary leaves room for seasons of formation whose significance becomes clear only later.
Grace made room for Titus
When Paul later went to Jerusalem, he brought Titus, a Gentile believer. Titus made the theological question concrete. Would a brother who had put his faith in Christ have to be circumcised to be fully received? The leaders recognized the grace given to Paul, extended fellowship, and required no such qualification of Titus. They also asked Paul to remember the poor. Here was a unity that made room for people and gave them shared work to do.
Titus also helps us see the difference between receiving guidance from other believers and asking them to supply our standing with God. Paul went to Jerusalem, talked with the leaders, and received their fellowship. He took their relationship seriously. At the same time, Titus’s place in Christ could not depend on whether he adopted the culture of the people in the room. Healthy discipleship can teach us a great deal while honoring the grace God has already given us.
Consider where you see that balance in your own church. A person may learn new habits, discover parts of Scripture they have never read, and receive correction that helps them grow. All of that happens best when they know there is already a place for them in the family. The right hand of fellowship and the call to remember the poor belong together. Grace gives us a shared life, and that life turns outward in care for other people.
Faith you can live in
In this sermon, Pastor Daniel describes coming to faith after growing up outside church and living as an atheist. His story and Paul’s are different, but both invite a personal question. Where have you actually come to trust Jesus? Maybe your story involves years of quiet prayer. Maybe it began in a moment you can still date. In either case, the risen Christ is the center of it.
Reflect and Respond
Read Galatians 1:13–24 this week. Name one place where God’s grace reached you before you had any idea what to do next. If you tell that story to someone, give them enough room to see what Jesus did.
Watch the sermon
https://dwellnlc.org/media/bxsw7yk/sunday-service-10-11-2026-free-week-2-nobody-taught-me-this
Browse the FREE sermon series
https://dwellnlc.org/media/series/bsjhwnf/free-the-letter-to-the-galatians
Posted in FREE — Galatians
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