2. What was Paul’s pre-
conversion understanding of
God’s purposes for the world?

3. For you have heard of my previous way of life in
Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God
and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism
beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely
zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God,
who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might
preach him among the Gentiles. . . .
Galatians 1:13-15

4. What was
antecedent in
Paul’s missional
mind?

5. God’s Promises
Adam (Genesis 1) Noah (Genesis 9) Abraham (Genesis 12)

6. “Leave your country, your people
and your father’s household to the
land I will show you. I will make you
into a great nation, and I will bless
you; I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing. I will
bless those who bless you, and
whoever curses you I will curse; and
all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.” So Abram went, as
the LORD had told him.
Genesis 12:1-4a

7. Mining Deep Within

8. Vocation does not come from
willfulness. It comes from
listening. I must listen to my
life and try to understand
what it is truly about – quite
apart from what I would like it
to be about – or my life will
never represent anything real
in the world, no matter how
earnest my intentions.
- Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 4.

9. That insight is hidden in the word
vocation itself, which is rooted in
the Latin for “voice.” Vocation
does not mean a goal that I
pursue. It means a calling that I
hear. Before I can tell my life what
I want to do with it, I must listen to
my life telling me who I am. I must
listen for the truths and values at
the heart of my own identity, not
the standards by which I must live
– but the standards by which I
cannot help but live if I am living
my own life.
- Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 4-5.

10. Consider Abraham: “He believed God,
and it was credited to him as
righteousness.” Understand, then, that
those who believe are children of
Abraham. The Scriptures foresaw that
God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
and announced the gospel in advance
to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed
through you.” So those who have faith
are blessed along with Abraham, the
man of faith.
Galatians 3:6-9

11. For all who rely on the works of the law are
under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is
everyone who does not continue to do
everything written in the Book of the
Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is
justified before God, because “the righteous
will live by faith.” The law is not based on
faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person
who does these things will live by
them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of
the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is
written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on
a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the
blessing given to Abraham might come to
the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by
faith we might receive the promise of the
Spirit.
Galatians 3:10-14

12. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free, male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:28-29

13. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles
by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call
themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by
the hands of men) – remember that at that time you were
separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without
hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13

14. “This cup is the new
covenant in my blood,
which is poured out
for you.”