"Confrontation" - A Discussion of Galatians 2:11-21

Here is the next outline in our Wednesdy study through Galatians...

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“Confrontation” Galatians 2:11-21

QUESTION: Have you ever had a time when you thought a “boss,” “leader” or even a “friend” in your life was making a serious error? What did you do? What was the outcome?



1. Everybody makes mistakes and errors in judgment. Galatians 2:11

A. Sometimes they are intentional; many times they are unintentional. Either way, we still bear responsibility.

QUESTION: What examples can we think of each kind of error? How should we respond to such errors?

QUESTION: What is the difference between having different opinions, and having to confront an error?

• Even the best of us can be guilty at times for behaving in ways that are contrary to our stated beliefs.


• What might cause otherwise “good” people to act in troubling ways?

B. Some disagreements are from sin in the hearts of peget your pets dressed up on halloweenople. 2 Tim. 4:10,14; Phlp 1:15-18

This includes:

• The refusal to let go of anger and bitterness or to walk in grace, mercy and forgiveness. Eph 4:29-32


• When we fear losing our image, the respect of others, or the approval of certain friends in our life. Gal 2:12


• The refusal to submit earthly motivations and desires to the Lord. Philippians 2:1-5

C. Some disagreements occur because of misunderstandings. Acts 19:25-41

• This happens when we make assumptions about others, and/or hold on to past hurts & disappointments.


• This happens if we don't really listen to one another and/or when we walk in fear and mistrust instead of love.


• This happens when we allow ourselves to be stop amazing halloween dog costumes in 2008wayed by gossip and slander. Proverbs 16:28

D. Some disagreements occur because we honestly see things differently than someone else. Acts 15:36-41

• Even the best of friends will run into times when they see things from opposing viewpoints.


• How we handle these moments is a test of our character and of our commitment to God and to one another.

E. As followers of Christ, we need to remember the need to lovingly lead people into truth instead of merely catering to false ways of thinking. What does this mean? Why might this be so?

2. One problem created when we err is that we can potentially lead others astray by our example. None of us are above being swayed by the missteps of others. Gal 2:13

QUESTION: How can we keep from being led into untruth, wrongful thinking, or wrongful action?



3. Once we understand the scope and impact of an error, the tradition of wearing costumes on halloweenit’s appropriate and right to address the issue. Gal 2:14-21

A. We should state the facts and the specifics as we understand them. Gal 2:14

B. We should give Biblical reasoning why we think this represents an error, sin, mistake, etc. Gal 2:15-21

C. We should carefully, attentively, and lovingly listen to the other person as well.

QUESTION: What does Paul believe is at stake here? What is the error that he addresses?

4. NOTE: Confrontation and conflict do not have to be synonymous.

A. Confrontation is the process by which we bring an issue into the open in order to produce healing and resolution. Acts. 15:39; Hebrews 10:24

• Disagreements and hurts should be lovingly confronted so that division doesn’t take root in our relationships.


• Loving confrontation will work to bring support as well as correction.


• The goal of confrontation is to come to mutual resolutions that help move all of us into the flow of God's will.


• When we simply sweep things under the rug, we add fuel to the fires of future conflict.

B. Conflict is the result of allowing confrontation to disintegrate into argument and polarization.

• Conflict focuses more on "winning" than on "loving."


• Conflict focuses more on "taking sides" or "getting even" than on exploring solutions & restoring relationship.

C. When we depend on the Spirit of Christ in us, we are enabled to walk in love at all times.

• A true brother or sister in Christ will tells us what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear. Pr 27:6


• A true brother or sister in Christ will respond with thanksgiving, even when the truth hurts.

D. When others simply will not come to a place of resolution, but persist in conflict, we must learn that setting appropriate boundaries may be a necessary and loving response. Romans 12:18, 2 Timothy 3:16-4:5

Q: When we become aware of our own errors, on our own or through confrontation, how should we respond?

Stop bouncing: tips for website success

This is the first post in a series on The Power of Measurement. In this economic climate, these posts are designed to cover ways to make your website as successful as possible. Over the course of the next few weeks, our in-house Analytics guru, Avinash Kto be a pirate or not on this halloweenaushik, and others will demystify the world of website analytics and offer tips for getting the most out of your metrics. -Ed.

Would you believe me if I said you don't need a Ph.D. to understand your website data? No? Believe it. Free tools like Google Analytics can help simplify website data so that you can better understand what visitors are doing when they arrive on your site.

One of the coolest innovations in understanding your website has been to provide delightful metrics on your web data so that you can make direct changes to your site. In lesson one of our series on The Power of Measurement, we will learn about bounce rate and how understanding it can improve your website.

You may be used to reading about how many “hits” a site or a page has received. But reporting a "hit" meant something back in 1985 when it was essentially a pageview (the number of times your webpage was viewed). Today, you will find that each web page gets many "hits," rendering the metric meaningless. While the number of "hits" a page received used to be the best measure of success, we now have more in-depth and detailed metrics to analyze the performance of our web pages.

Bounce rate is insightful because from the perspective of a website visitor, it measures this phenomenon: "I came; I puked; I left." (OK, technically it also means the number of sessions with just one pageview.) While metrics like visitors show the number of people who came to your site, bounce rate will tell you how many of those people were unimpressed and left your site without taking any action (not even dignifying the site with a single click!).

Bounce rate has these attributes:
1) It is really hard to misunderstand. It measures the number of people who landed on your site and refused to give you even one single click!
2) It is available in most web analytics tools, including our own Google Analytics.
3) It is quick and easy to use. Bounce rate will help you understand whe10 halloween costumes in 2008re and how to make changes on your website in under an hour.

Now, let's make this real. If you have a Google Analytics account, you'll see this when you log in:


This means that about 77 percent of website visitors came to the site, "puked," and left. Ouch. Based on that, you may need to light a fire somewhere, as things need fixing. Here are two simple and specific ideas:

Tip #1: Find out where your visitors are coming from and which of these sites sends visitors with the highest bounce rate. To do so, all you have to do is go to "Traffic Sources" (in Google Analytics, or whatever tool you are using), click on "Referring Sites," and boom!


In about fifteen seconds you know which sites are your “best friends forever” (BFFs), and where you need to look a tad deeper. By identifying the sites that are sending you visitors with high bounce rates, you can investigate the reasons why (the campaigns, the context in which your link is placed, the ads) and make changes to ensure that visitors find what they are looking for when they come to your site.

However, it may not just be the campaigns that turned your readers away; it could be the specific page that your visitors landed on. That leads to my Tip #2: Go to “Content” (labeled as such in Google Analytics) and click on "Top Landing Pages" report:


You can see different pages of your website on the left and the corresponding bounce rates on the right. Remember, you don't decide the homepage of your website. When people search, the engine finds the most relevant page on your site and that's the homepage. If you have 50,000 pages on your website, you have 50,000 homepages. The report above is showing the top ten pages of your website ahomemade cow halloween costumesnd which ones might be letting you down by not engaging your visitors enough to get even one click!

In under an hour you can discover which sources are your BFFs and which pages on your site need some sprucing up. This will ensure lower bounce rates, higher engagement with your site, and perhaps even higher revenue. To learn about other ways in which you can use bounce rate effectively, check out this article on my web analytics blog, Occam's Razor.

Good luck!

Posted by Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist