Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24445 - God Has A Plan For Your Spiritual Growth - Acts 9:20-31

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#24445 - God Has A Plan For Your Spiritual Growth - Acts 9:20-31 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace, Media, or to tune into our live stream
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Services. Visit us online at Calvary,
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co.'s Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen, open your Bibles to Acts
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chapter 9, please Acts chapter 9, draw your attention.
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When you get there to verse 20, we're going to pick up where we
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left off last time and I've entitled our Bible study.
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God has a plan for your spiritual growth.
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God has a plan for your spiritual growth.
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Just like he had a plan for Saul of Tarsus spiritual growth,
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every single follower of Christ, God has a plan for your growth.
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Much of the Plan will be similar to everyone else's but there's
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also unique things in your life. Just like, previously we learned
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that got nothing is wasted in your life.
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God uses everything to prepare you for now and then to prepare,
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prepare you for what's up ahead and then to prepare you for
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what's next, nothing's wasted in your life but not only is it for
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Preparation. It's also for discipleship,
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that's the word that we use. The Bible uses to describe your
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growth and following Christ the word disciple.
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It simply means learner. So every follower of Jesus, as a
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learner, a disciple of Christ, you're a learner of Jesus and
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what he has to teach you, and what he has to teach me.
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And there's a plan and a purpose for all of our lives that God is
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working out through the circumstances.
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I mean, when you think of Saul the plan that God had for Saul's
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life here in chapter 9, he doesn't know yet.
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He doesn't know. He has a little bit of a hint.
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I think when ananias comes and says, hey I'm going to show him
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how much she's going to suffer for my name.
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But he doesn't know how much he's gonna suffer.
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He doesn't know the difficulties going to have, he doesn't know
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the isolation. He's going to experience, he
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doesn't know the Betrayal, he doesn't know the prison's time.
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He doesn't know, churches, turn it.
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He doesn't know all of the things that God will use in his
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life to make him the man that God wants him to be.
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I mean, we know because we read the Bible in his fullness but if
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you as if God was able to lay that plan before Saul, I think
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it would be hard to believe if he told the church, everything
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you Was going to do through Salt.
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It would be hard to believe. He's are having a hard enough
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time right now, believing that he saved.
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It's hard for them to conceive that someone so vicious.
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We met Saul as a Madman. We met him as an angry man.
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We met him as a man filled with rage and in a few days, he's now
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saw the believer. It was hard for them to believe
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he was the chief opponent of the church now.
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He's the chief proponent, why? Because the gospel has amazing
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power. To transform lives.
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Don't ever forget that. The gospel is the power of God
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unto salvation, for those, who believe for the Jew first.
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And also, for the Greek, you know who wrote that?
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Paul the Apostle, he lived it, he didn't just write it.
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The power is in the gospel. The power comes from God, when
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we look at someone like Saul and we see such radical
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transformation, we step back and we wonder, wow!
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How is that even possible? Yeah, but Saul is a beautiful
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picture of the grace of God. That's the word to describe
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Saul's life. It encompasses everything about
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him. God has been very gracious with
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him. If you're taking notes, I want
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to help you understand what the word Grace means.
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By giving you an acronym using the letters, gr accent4 want you
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to forget the importance of the grace of God in your life, you
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might be able to see it in my life and go oh I'm so glad you
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got saved. That's wonderful but it's more
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important in your life for you than it is in my life for you.
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The grace of God is very important, it is the lens by
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which you need to see everything in your life.
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If you're reading the Bible or your living life and you're
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putting on a pair of glasses like I do because I can't see
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without them. Let the glasses you put on be
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glasses of Grace, where you see everything through the grace of
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God. And here's what it means.
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Using the word, Grace God's riches at Christ's expense.
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Spence God's riches at Christ's expense your salvation, your
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forgiveness, your new life is not because of anything you have
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done. It is not partially you and
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partially God. Some people have approached and
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they go well, you know God, he did his 90% And I did my 10%.
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That's not true, it's not 90/10, it's not a T20, it's not 99.9
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and then you got that one little point, zero one percent.
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And it is all God, not you, it's his grace.
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Why is it important? Well, first of all, you realize
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you come to God, not because of your good works and your good
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deeds, and your morality, and your upbringing in your family,
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you don't come to Christ, you're not saved because of your good
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works. You're saved because of the
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finished work of Jesus Christ, very important that you grasp
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that because we live in a culture.
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We live in a time where It's easy to become and start to feel
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entitled like you deserve something.
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And I've got this and I deserve it.
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When it comes to the things of God, don't come to him on the
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basis of what you deserve, okay? I'm warning you right now.
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Don't come to God and give me what I deserve.
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Tell us first so we can back up just a little bit.
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I know what I deserve. I deserve a christless eternity.
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I know the life. I was living.
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I know the behavior I know the way.
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My own sin. I don't want to come to God
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entitled. I'm not entitled to anything.
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Everything I have is from the Lord and it's to the Lord, I
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don't deserve. I'm not entitled anything.
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I'm just thankful. I am so thankful for the grace
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of God in my life. And so when I come to him, I
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come to God on the basis of what he has done.
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Not on the basis of what I had done.
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Because even on my best day, I cannot come to God on the basis
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of what I have done because what I've done.
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Done is like filthy rags. The Bible says, my
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righteousness, my goodness, it doesn't measure up God's riches
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at Christ's expense. That explains soul, that
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explains Ed, and that explains you, how is it that you can
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experience the Forgiveness of God?
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It's because of his grace, his finished work again.
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Paul, would later write these very words to explain what I
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just said, he told the church in Ephesus in Ephesians Chapter 2
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and verse 8. He says, for by Grace you have
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been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
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It is a gift of God, not of Works lest anyone should boast
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for. We are his workmanship created
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in Christ Jesus. For good works which God
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prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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Our response to God is to serve him with our lives.
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That's not. Why were saved were saved
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because of the grace of God. The blood of Jesus Christ to
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forgive you of your sins. When we come back to acts 9, we
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meets all full of Pride, full of murder.
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He wanted to take lives, literally because of their
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Devotion to Jesus. He was also a man filled with
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rage. He was an angry man filled with
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and controlled by anger. Can I just say for us as a
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church? There are some angry people
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among us today. Some men, some women that are
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filled with rage. That is not becoming of a
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follower of Christ. It's one of those unspoken
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unnoticed sins. But there are some among us
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whether here or listening from a distance, that your kids are
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really happy when you come to church because you're a
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different man, when you come to church.
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You have a different demeanor about you.
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You're not the kind of woman at home that screaming and yelling,
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and trying to control everything and flipping out and then all of
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a sudden, you change for a an hour or so, on Sunday and you're
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that. You're in a space in your life
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right now, where your kids are, happy, your spouse's happy,
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people are happy that you, they get that hour and a half of you
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with outrage and anger. And it's not becoming it's not
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from the Lord. The Bible would speak of that
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rage as a sin, Paul himself would know.
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He writes to the Galatians, he calls it, an outburst of Wrath
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He speaks of it as a work of the Flesh and it's not God's will
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for you to live like that. He has delivered you from that.
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He's given you an exchange self-control, the Bible says
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gentleness Saul developed a gentleness about him, that's not
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how we meet him, but that's what he becomes later on in his life.
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He'll even described himself as a mother The kind of love and
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Kerry has for the church. Not just a father, we don't
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expect that but he also describes himself as a mother,
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he's a changed man. And for those of you that have
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an anger problem, get some help. Repent of your sin time is too
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short for you to be walking around, controlling people with
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your anger or misrepresenting, the cause of Christ are scaring,
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people are scaring your kids. It's just not from the Lord, it
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isn't God's will for your life. So many people are wonder what's
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God's will for your life. Well, for some of you I'm
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answering that question right now it is not God's will for
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your life to be such an ass. Angry rage filled person, maybe
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there's some deep hurt. You're dealing with me.
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Something happened to you and it changed you and and the Lord has
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healing and comfort for you. But it's going to get worse,
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this uncontrolled outbursts of Wrath.
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It's going to get worse, and God's calling you to himself
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today. That's just a word from God.
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Today Saul changed, you can too. He's not known like that, any
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longer. He changed deeply because of the
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grace of God. I love this.
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A man that wanted great to do. Great harm is now a man of great
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grace. You can do that in anything in
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your life. A man that was involved or a
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woman that was involved in great sin can now be a man or a woman
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involved with great grace and that's where we find him in
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verse 20. Now of Acts chapter 9 says
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immediately. He was speaking about Saul
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treats the Christ in the synagogue's that he was the son
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of God then all who heard it were amazed and said, is this
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not? He who destroyed, those who
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called on his name in Jerusalem, has he come here for that
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purpose? So that he might bring them
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bound to the chief priests verse 22.
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But Soul increased, all the more in strength and confounded the
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Jews. Who dwelt in Damascus proving
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that this Jesus is the Christ Saul.
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He jumps in with both feet. Preaching Jesus, mark this word
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in verse 20 immediately. You could also translate it at
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once. Now I don't believe the word is
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being used here in the text chronologically but generally
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and generally what happened is Paul was born.
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Again some things happen. We know it wasn't right away
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because he was blind for three days.
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He was alone waiting Ting for ananias.
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There's time involved here, but the manner of his life was to go
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for it and jump in. And that's what he's doing here.
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He started preaching the Christ, the son of God.
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He came to Damascus with the intent and motive to persecute,
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and now he's going into the synagogues and preaching the
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gospel. And yet the ministry hasn't gone
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to the Gentiles yet. So the primary he was going to
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go and take out those that were loyal to Jesus, but now the
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primary place he's going is the very place that he wanted to do
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destruction. His life is so radically
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transformed but one thing I want you to notice the wasn't changed
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radically was his personality, he has the same personality.
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He came to Damascus. All in.
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And now a follower of Christ he's all in We learned last time
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that he had a zealousness about him, a fire a fire in him.
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He had a fire to do bad now he has a fire to do good.
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He's zealous for the things of God and his personality didn't
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change and that's encouraging to me because your personality is
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not going to change all that much either.
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What is going to change this going to be under the authority
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of Jesus. It's going to be tempered by the
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Holy Spirit but God is going to use you.
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The way you are. You don't have to become
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somebody else. You don't have to try to learn
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your will be used. Who you are, your personality
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will be what God has made you to be.
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It'll be refined, and they'll be improved, and you'll learn some
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skills, some things will be added.
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Some things will be taken away in your life, but you are who
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you are by the grace of God and your personality will continue
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on, just like with Saul here. And he confounded them notice,
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they're a little hesitant, and I think we would be to their
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little hesitant, their response is not like they're amazed.
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It says they're amazed and There's questioning what's going
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on here but they're amazed also because he was very highly
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educated. It says in verse 22 that there
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were, they were confounded and that he proved he was able to
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take their scriptures and prove the truths that Jesus is
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Messiah. But this word immediately needs
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to describe your life where you hear something, then you do it,
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you learn something, and you apply it.
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That that is the manner of your life.
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You don't procrastinate and put things off, when it comes to the
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things of the lord. It's not okay.
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Because you procrastinate, you procrastinate before, you know
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it, you lose the Zeal, you lose the desire.
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Sometimes you forget what? The lord gave you.
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I mean here's a great test. What was the big thing?
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I gave you in your Bible Study last week in this church or
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whatever Church you were out. What, what, what movement did he
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give you and some are like, I don't know.
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I don't even remember and that's it.
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There's a normal part to that. You got so much going on during
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the week. How can you remember everything?
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Well, one thing is good is to take notes last week.
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I was greeting before service, meaning families and there is a
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dad with his eight-year-old son there and he wasn't going to be
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in Sunday school. So I wanted to prepare him for
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the Bible study so I started talking to him and I said It
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would be really good if you took notes and paid attention while
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I'm teaching. And I'll remember you when I'm
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teaching and I'll look at you and you just take notes and jot
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them down and God will help you remember.
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Even in the Bible study, I think he was eight or nine years old
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and he will be able to remember, you'll be fine.
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Just pay attention. And he says, okay, I will, and I
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asked his dad, would you send me the notes afterwards and, and he
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did finally sent him during the week and I posted them on, on my
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Instagram. But I remember because I showed
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the dad this week, I said, did you see your son's most?
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Yes, I saw show them the classic line in his notes.
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There was probably like seven or eight lines, you know, the
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classic line. You know what he got from the
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message last week. God is not weird.
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He got a lot of great things but Eva sure to write that down and
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you know it ministered to me when it arrived in my email box
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that a kid would just understand it.
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Such a young age. Yeah, you're right, bro.
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God's not weird. You're going to meet a lot of
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weird people. You're going to see a lot of
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weird things in your life. You live in a weird.
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World. But are you want to know this?
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God is not weird and that's what's going to stick with him.
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So I realized that you would be in Bible study and not remember
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but one way to get over that hump is to do things quickly.
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To respond quickly, don't be known as the procrastinator.
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Putting things off, but be known as the one immediately
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immediately. Now, if you like to write in
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your Bible as I want to draw your attention to the space
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between verse 21 at the end and the beginning of verse 22,
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that's an important space. It doesn't say anything in that
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space, but you can write a little note that three years
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passed between verse 21 and verse 22.
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Three years pass. We know that because in
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Galatians chapter 1 in verse 16, Paul says that God's revealing
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his son in his Him that he might preach among the Gentiles that
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he did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
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Nor did I go to Jerusalem to those who are Apostles before
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me. But I went to a rave Iya and
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then back to Damascus. So he was in a real Bia in the
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wilderness in the desert for three years, and then 27:22
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starts. And it's hard.
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Sometimes we do well at how would I ever know that, unless
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you taught me that, like, how could I know that?
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Because you're just teaching through in the whole section,
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Well, as you're reading through the Bible, this whole section,
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actually covers these two verses were looking at today, actually
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covers anywhere between 10 and 13 years and you get, you might
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even get frustrated or you might question.
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How does he know that how they know that?
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I look it up? That's how I know it.
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And I want you to learn how to look it up.
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And if you want to learn these kind of things, I want to
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encourage you to pick up a book, Halley's Bible Handbook, this.
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What my pastor told me to pick up.
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It's a very small introductory. Paragraph chapter by chapter
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summary of The Bible and it's pretty thick but it's small and
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it just gives little summaries. It's not hard to understand,
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it's not hard to read but when you're doing your DeVos you can
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have Halley's Bible Handbook open to the section while you're
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reading the Bible and I didn't look I should have looked to see
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if Haley's has this but somewhere in my studies Through
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The Years where there was my pastor or commentaries or
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whatever, I'm looking at looking things up, you have the same
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tools available to you, you just going to learn how to use them.
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So start with A Book, Like Halley's Bible Handbook, it's
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very helpful and you will learn these little things like, okay,
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there's three years in between these two verses.
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Now, why is that significant? Well, it's significant because
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these three years of being alone, was God's will for the
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discipleship of Saul. He got him away.
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You would think just the opposite, we would probably
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choose just the opposite somebody so smart, somebody, so
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prominent somebody that everyone knows we're going to want to use
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him right away. Let's put him up front.
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Let's make sure but that wasn't God's will God's will was to get
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him away for three years by himself in isolation.
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And that's how the ministry of Saul starts.
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The ministry of Saul starts actually with blindness and
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being alone in blindness and then God sends ananias to him.
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Lays hands. Jean him encourages him, the
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scales fall, then the next big movement in his life, is to
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start sharing the gospel. Then the next big movement is, I
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need to get you away. You need to be by yourself three
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years, three years in the desert a time of preparation, a time of
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isolation, a time of separation for what God has for his life.
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We often will describe our news the description of the desert as
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a time of isolation, and dryness.
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Now my apologies in advance to the three people that do like
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the desert, but most of us don't like the desert, the sand a
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heat, the cacti like, it's just Barren and hot and uncomfortable
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and I know many of you like the desert, but when we think of the
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desert experience or sometimes, maybe even a Wilderness
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experience it. Speaks of all the challenging
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things that are in the desert of the dryness of the loneliness of
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the quietness, where God would take someone like Saul and say,
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I'm going to train you by yourself.
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As one commentator said, I think it was Pastor skip.
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Heitzig said that he was being enrolled in the University of
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the Holy Spirit. The Seminary of the Holy Spirit
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where he was going to be taught how every symbol every
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sacrifice, every type, every picture, every jot and Tittle
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related to and reflected upon the person and work of Jesus
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Christ, all throughout the scriptures.
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Remember this is a man Saul from a young age dedicate himself to
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knowing the Bible. He knew the Bible from words and
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by memorized most of it if not all of it, Be common for a
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Pharisee to do that. And now with that knowledge, now
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he's being introduced to all the pictures in the types, which, by
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the way, on our midweek Bible study, we are doing the exact
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same thing. In the Book of Genesis, the
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foundation of Genesis is filled with pictures and types that go
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forward to the rest of the Bible with just this last Wednesday.
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We were looking at how Abraham was a type of the father Isaac.
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A type of the son Abraham has a servant unnamed that we think he
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was Ellie's or sends him back. Home to find a with an
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impossible task to what? Find a bride for his son and
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bring her to the Sun and we saw how Eliezer was a type of the
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Holy Spirit and Rebecca, a type of the church coming.
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I mean, it's fascinating not going to give you the old Bible
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study but that was part of it this last Wednesday because the
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Bible is filled with types and pictures that point to Jesus
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Christ. Jesus said, as much Denis he
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said in the volume of the book it is written of me.
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He said Three years saw is getting this kind of education
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and he got he came back with his theology Street.
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We know he got his theology Street.
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Why? Because, well, when you want to
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learn about the grace of God, just read the book of Romans,
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Paul wrote Romans to explain the gospel of grace.
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He got that straight. He understood the church, you
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read the book of Ephesians ecclesiology, the study of the
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church, He's like, oh now I understand the place of the
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church. He got his theology straight
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about eschatology. The study of end times as you
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read through first Thessalonians, as it speaks
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about the second coming and the Rapture of the church.
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I don't want you to be discouraged when you seem to be
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in a season of your life where you're being isolated.
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Will you're being alone because God can use, those times Scott
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wants to use those times. He desires us to grow in Grace
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and draw near to him. He wants you to come alongside
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of him and just notice here, notice here the beginning of
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Saul's Dynamic, Ministry was being alone with God.
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And it's important that you learn to be alone with God and
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to embrace the seasons of isolation and loneliness is
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won't be the first time in Saul's life, before we even done
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with the text here, he'll have even a deeper sense of
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loneliness. And it's a challenging time, but
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it's also a fruitful time because God is always at work.
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Now, notice again in verse 23, now after many days were passed,
23:36
how many days were this? About 3,000 are about 1,000
23:39
about three years. Many days have been passed the
23:42
Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul
23:47
and they watch the gates night and day to kill him.
23:52
And the disciples took him by night and let him down through
23:55
the wall in a large basket. Typical first century cities
24:01
would be surrounded by walls, very thick walls and have one
24:04
way in and one way out the gates of the city.
24:07
And now Saul is being further. Isolated from his past, by
24:12
losing his friends, these would be waiting.
24:16
These Jews in Damascus would be waiting for him to cooperate
24:19
with him to destroy the church. But now after Saul is Born
24:24
Again, their resistance to his message to the gospel, now makes
24:28
them more or they're no longer wanting to take out the church,
24:31
their attention has been drawn. We've got to get rid of this
24:33
man, he has to go. This is not the man that we
24:38
expected and God sends like with Jesus using the terminology of
24:43
the day. God sent a disrupter to Damascus
24:47
to get people's attention. God sent Jesus as a disruptor
24:51
into culture to get people's attention.
24:54
And I wonder how many of you have been sent into a place to
24:58
be a disrupter. ER, now don't misunderstand me.
25:00
I don't mean you need to make a Ruckus of things, but by your
25:03
very faith in Jesus Christ, you will have enemies.
25:09
People are not going to like you anymore and that's what like
25:13
that know who likes that in life.
25:15
Oh, let's follow Jesus. And lose all my friends.
25:18
Nobody wants that, but it's part of the package.
25:21
You don't even have to you know, in your own life.
25:24
You're not different. And the differences that are in
25:27
your life, they're just all the good parts of you are being made
25:30
better and all the bad parts of you are being taken.
25:33
Care of, like, this life with Jesus is a good thing.
25:38
But your friends don't interpret it that way.
25:40
They just see, I lost a friend. I now, I can't party with you
25:43
anymore. I can't take advantage of you
25:45
anymore. I can't.
25:46
I mean, I remember early days, like I had a lot of it.
25:49
What we call friends today, or most likely just acquaintances
25:53
and party buddies, right? That like they were eyes.
25:55
Still have very, very, very close friends from back in those
25:59
days but we're all safe now like we're all walking with the Lord
26:02
now but we were close friends then and I were close friends
26:04
now. But a lot of the acquaintances I
26:07
used to party with like they got so upset with me.
26:09
Didn't want anything to do with me and it was hard to deal with.
26:12
I mean, I'm on fire for the things of the Lord but it is not
26:15
fun not to have people like you and then there's your family
26:18
like early on. When I started following Jesus.
26:20
I my family is accused of what are you involved in?
26:22
You're like you're like in a cult man, you're in a cold room
26:25
like what? Like what do you think a cold is
26:27
well you know you're a church a lot now.
26:30
Yeah. Like that's what you do dad.
26:34
Like you go to church and you worship god well you know you
26:37
read your Bible a lot. Yeah like that's what you you.
26:40
We had a Bible to but it only had the birth certificates in
26:43
it. Like it's actually supposed to
26:44
be red and add some fanciful discussions with my parents.
26:49
But again, you know what happened over time as they watch
26:51
my life. I got to leave my parents to the
26:53
Lord. So yeah, that's like like you
26:55
might I lose people for a little bit but you study on with them,
26:58
you love them but hey, losing friends, I and then for soul, he
27:02
didn't just lose friends and colleagues, they actually turned
27:06
on him and wanted to kill him. This is ironic, is it not?
27:10
It's ironic that the people that were planning to kill are now
27:14
going to take out their leader? That's just the way of the Lord,
27:18
further isolating salt. It's important to the degree of
27:22
isolation. You might feel it's important
27:24
for you to realize it seems to me biblically that the more you
27:28
need to grow in Christ. The more you need to pull away
27:32
from your past life. So if you were really deep into
27:36
stuff, then you just need some time away.
27:39
You just need some time to think.
27:40
You need to get your head in a different space.
27:43
You need to learn things about the Lord, you need to learn how
27:45
much he loves you and how much he cares for you.
27:47
You need to learn and this is something I learned
27:49
unfortunately with crisis when big crisis entered my family's
27:52
life. Ten years ago we found out two
27:55
things one, we found out who our friends were Which was very
28:00
encouraging to us. We found out there was a season
28:04
it was a group of people that were true.
28:05
Loyal friends, very wonderful. But you know, what else we found
28:08
out who our friends were not And that's painful it still hurts
28:13
today, still very painful except that God saying you got to know
28:16
this at. You got to walk in the light.
28:19
You can't just walk with your eyes closed.
28:21
You got to know who your friends are, who your friends aren't.
28:23
So that, you know, how I'm going to use you in their lives.
28:26
And what's true for me is true for you.
28:28
I'm just a follower of Jesus like you are and so the things
28:31
in your life that are happening like, with solved Tarsus here,
28:34
and the plan for his discipleship included, a lot of
28:37
isolation, a lot. Accepted.
28:41
It's not like permanent not going to be away forever.
28:44
God's put us in community, we're going to make friends.
28:46
We're going to have new friends that God has put us in
28:49
community, but sometimes where we live in a time right now,
28:52
where Community is. So over you that even that words
28:54
just overused and it was, I got to have people.
28:57
I got to have people, you don't, you need the Lord.
28:59
That's what you need. Number one, but in our culture,
29:02
what has happened, we've even seen this new diagnosis in this
29:05
from the psychological world of codependency.
29:09
So it's not just Community like you.
29:10
Can't live without them. You can't live without them and
29:13
I'm telling you right now with you and the Lord, you're going
29:15
to be just fine, you're going to learn how to live and then
29:18
you're going to be back into Community stronger so that you
29:22
can learn how to give preference to one another.
29:24
You're going to learn how to love people more than yourself,
29:26
like there's a lot to be learned but you've got to get a loan
29:29
with the Lord and embrace this new season as hard as it is.
29:33
I mean, even in a small way, in a small way, here in the church,
29:37
we try to put you on that path. Like if you're new to the
29:39
church, you've come from another Church.
29:41
Maybe you've served in a high capacity or, you know, you were
29:44
used greatly in another church. We're going to ask you.
29:47
We're actually going to tell you, we're actually going to
29:49
require it from you that you can't make a service commitment
29:52
in this church for at least six months.
29:54
At least that's a bare minimum. We're just going to have just,
29:57
you know, you don't need to do anything or just enjoy the
29:59
church. Get to know one another just to
30:01
say hi to folks, make sure you this is the pulpit you want to
30:04
receive from. Make sure this is a place you
30:06
want to worship. God where you want to raise your
30:07
kids, like make sure this is the place don't jump into.
30:10
To quickly but instead just calm and don't be anybody for a
30:13
while, just you and the Lord and that Russell that Ruffles
30:18
people's feathers like you don't understand what I did in my
30:20
previous Church know. Hey I'm sure could use you
30:22
greatly but just wait yeah but you don't understand.
30:25
I got this great gift hate to worry about it.
30:27
Just wait, let's get take some time.
30:30
So you learn, your identity and Christ is not from what you do,
30:35
but from Who You Are, That you are just as valuable sitting
30:40
there receiving the word worshipping by the way.
30:43
If you served at a high capacity in your previous Church you need
30:46
to rest and take a breath and relax and rest so you can be
30:52
strengthened for what the Lord may have for you here.
30:55
So how do you get involved? We have small groups here.
30:57
We have men's and women's, we've got the life groups but, you
31:00
know, you want to serve, you still want to serve, you can
31:03
always show up super early on a Sunday or a Saturday, or a win.
31:07
They and you can help us clean the building if you want.
31:10
Take out the trash, make sure everything's ready for folks.
31:14
Walking, I came in this morning early and there's a brother out
31:17
there picking up trash in the parking lot.
31:19
His first assignment in the school of ministry.
31:22
Good job. But he's just out there with a
31:25
bucket and just but then he connected with me.
31:29
We made eye contact, I started talking to him and I said, look
31:32
bro, you don't want to know why you're out here.
31:33
It's not just to pick up trash. It's for proximity.
31:37
You're out here in the parking lot.
31:38
You're going to meet people in the parking lot.
31:40
You're going to talk with people in the parking lot.
31:42
You're going to pray with people in the parking lot.
31:44
That's why you're in the parking lot and it was so good.
31:46
He said, thank you, I said you're welcome, go pick up some
31:49
more trash, not just gonna I didn't do that, just kidding,
31:52
but we've all picked up trash. Yeah, so like the reality is is
31:56
that God has a word for you and sometimes it's alone, but it
31:59
won't be for long. It won't be for long.
32:01
However, we'll see in a moment. It's it's not all heaven and
32:04
daisies and Roses, in a church, you realize that, right?
32:07
Right. It churches can be very
32:09
difficult places to be in but it is the way that God grows us, so
32:13
notice after many days would pass, he's learning verse 26.
32:18
Now, when Saul had come to Jerusalem, now he wants to, he's
32:22
from Damascus. Back in Jerusalem.
32:25
He wants to join the disciples, basically, he goes to church to
32:28
the Jerusalem Church and they were all afraid of him and
32:32
didn't believe that he was a disciple.
32:35
Imagine how you would feel three years alone, your people want to
32:39
kill you in Damascus. And by the way, I forgot to read
32:43
in verse 25, the disciples took him by night and let him down
32:46
through a wall in a large basket.
32:48
That's another place of isolation.
32:49
By the way, he was let down the wall.
32:51
We know from 2nd Corinthians. Chapter 11, that a Believer must
32:55
have lived Apartments were in the walls of the city so they
32:58
were wide enough to have an apartment in them and according
33:01
to Second Corinthians, he was let down through a window of an
33:04
apartment in the wall and a basket.
33:06
The Greek word here is the same word that would be used to
33:09
describe the same word that was used.
33:11
Used to describe the baskets when they fed the thousands and
33:14
they put the fragments in it. But this was a large basket, a
33:17
big enough for him to be in there.
33:19
So you've got to understand what Saul's going through SOG heading
33:23
to Damascus. He's a strong man.
33:25
I'm going to take out the church then he's blinded and humiliated
33:29
in his blindness LED like a baby into the city.
33:32
Somebody was holding his hand, making sure he got into the city
33:35
safely and settled in Judas as house and then he steps up, they
33:39
don't want him. Then he Something try to kill
33:42
him. Then he steps up and now they
33:44
got you, we got to get rid of them.
33:45
They're going to we're there. So they'd want to kill him so
33:48
much. We gotta get him out of here.
33:49
Can't take them through the gates, but, hey, we got a
33:51
friend. Let's let him down in a basket.
33:54
Well, you know, one of the ways that you would take out your
33:57
trash in the first century, if you had an apartment in the
33:59
wall, was in a basket outside your window, you let it down,
34:04
jump, dump it, right outside wall.
34:05
If you go to Israel with us on one of the sauce, when we get to
34:08
Hezekiah as tunnel, I'll point out to you how they throw the
34:10
trash on. It's all on the hillside right
34:12
there. The trash is there.
34:14
Where the Arab settlements are right?
34:16
Behind Hezekiah is tunnel. They just throw it out, just
34:19
throw it out. That was not uncommon.
34:22
So you got Saul here, he's all alone.
34:24
Everywhere, he turns now, he's coming to the church now.
34:28
The church rejects him. And that's just why it's so
34:32
important for us to embrace the men and women of God has in our
34:37
lives, in the church, sitting around us greeting.
34:39
I taking it seriously because you just don't know how
34:42
somebody's walking in, who knows what Saul's feeling being so
34:46
alone going through. So thanks so much.
34:49
Like like when we have this this routine of things that we do in
34:53
a church service. Pasterino say greet somebody
34:56
like and we do it so much but we I mean it like I mean it I'll
35:01
get up. You guys are greeting so much.
35:02
I say, get a phone number and call him later, right.
35:04
Ike you can do that. You can call someone, you can
35:08
email them, you can become a friend, but sometimes you might
35:13
be rejected, sometimes you might and it's just painful, it's
35:17
painful the church. Can be a very painful place.
35:23
You need to know that. That's why.
35:27
If you've been hurt in a church and it still stings like it
35:31
happened yesterday. It's because you were all in.
35:36
Do you love you were walking in love.
35:39
I have found that to the degree that you love is 2 degree that
35:43
you hurt And betrayal in the church is a very painful thing
35:48
to endure. It is not what you expect.
35:52
It is not what most people experience, but betrayal is very
35:57
painful. Rejection is very painful.
36:01
Again, using a terminology of our day.
36:03
Like, if you experience any kind of rejection or any kind of it
36:07
can trigger other types of rejection that you felt in the
36:10
past. They could becomes a trigger
36:11
point and you just wonder why am I never settled?
36:14
And that is another reason why God will take you away for a
36:17
while. Why you like man I just come in.
36:19
I don't. I talked in when I leave, that's
36:21
your season right now. Just don't let it be your whole
36:24
life, but while you're healing up and while you're growing,
36:28
it's okay, you come and go as the Holy Spirit leads you But
36:32
just know this, there's coming a day where you're going to be
36:34
stronger and there's coming a day when you're going to be
36:37
stronger in your healing. And when you arrive at that day,
36:41
you go, when is that going to happen?
36:42
And I don't know. But you'll know when you know,
36:45
it's one of those you don't know.
36:47
And then you'll be able to take that next step is timid, you
36:49
know, you'll be timid because you're like I don't want to get
36:51
bit again. I don't want to get hurt again
36:53
but you can't live the rest of your life with a hard heart.
36:56
Please don't don't Harden. Your heart for people, you
36:59
matter to God and you matter to us.
37:01
And there's something in your life, you have to add to me,
37:04
there's something in my life I have to add to you.
37:06
And let me just say, I've been in this church, 23 years.
37:09
And if I hardened my heart, every time I've been bit beat up
37:13
the trade or whatever, like, I'd be a stone figure right now,
37:16
like they would carry me out and the only part of me were maybe
37:19
my mouth would move a little bit, but I refuse to harden my
37:23
heart because people are people. And it hurts doesn't mean it
37:30
doesn't hurt. It just means I'm not going to
37:31
Define Myself by the hurts. I'm a Child of God, He Loves Me
37:35
cares for me desires to use me and to that I say, amen, amen,
37:40
and same way. If, with you now consider this
37:42
as we wind down here, the church, rejects him, but there's
37:46
always someone there be this person.
37:48
You ready verse 27. But Barnabas, you know what his
37:52
name means? Son of encouragement.
37:55
This is a legit guy. Why that see Saul and his
38:00
rejection. So Barnabas takes him, it says,
38:03
brought him dry to the apostles and said I vouch for this guy is
38:07
basically what the verse says, I vouch for him.
38:10
He's told him how Paul had seen the Lord on the road.
38:14
Secondly, that Paul heard the voice of Jesus spoke with him
38:18
and then thirdly how he preached boldly at Damascus.
38:21
He basically just brought him to the apostles and said, this guy
38:24
is saved. Take my word for it.
38:27
He's saved and Barnabas we're going to learn is a very special
38:31
man in the life of Saul. He needed him for a season, you
38:34
can read ahead on, they were Ministry partners for many years
38:37
until they weren't which is kind of a bummer because they got
38:40
into a little argument and they couldn't resolve the argument
38:43
and then they split up. So, once again, even somebody
38:46
that was very important to Saul was taken away from him because
38:48
they couldn't resolve an argument.
38:50
That's just the way it is. It happens.
38:51
God took Barnabas this way, God takes all that way, and we'll
38:54
study that later on in the book of Acts.
38:56
But right now, Barnabas is encouraging him.
38:59
It's going to be okay, Saul? It's going to be great.
39:01
This guy's legit verse 28. So he was with them at Jerusalem
39:05
coming in and going out. So they become friends, they're
39:08
ministering together studying the Bible together.
39:10
I'm sure praying together, verse 29, he spoke boldly in the name
39:14
of Lord. Jesus disputed against the
39:16
hellenists but they attempted to kill him.
39:19
The Jews and Damascus. Hundreds of miles away.
39:21
They want to kill him. Comes back to Jerusalem.
39:24
Now, these Hellenistic Jews want to kill him.
39:26
You remember these Jews. Remember this is the advantage
39:28
of teaching verse by verse already.
39:30
You remember these guys you already know them, you met them.
39:33
These are the guys that stone Steven.
39:36
The ones that put their garments at the feet of a Young Man by
39:39
the name of soul. And now, they want to kill this
39:44
guy. He is Saul is a man without a
39:49
country. He's a man without a
39:52
nationality. He's a man without his former
39:56
religious experience. He needed to come out of these
39:58
things. God is doing a new work in him.
40:02
That's part of the process, God's doing a new thing and he
40:06
had to let it all go and it's happening so quickly.
40:09
In a couple verses, but remember, it's about tents, 10
40:12
to 13 years of time covered here.
40:16
The first 10 to 13 years of his walk.
40:19
God is doing a deep deep work in him.
40:23
And he's rejected. He's receive he's reassigned.
40:27
He shunned disappointing. Time for the church but an
40:31
encouraging time for a guy like Barnabas, the hunted becomes,
40:35
the hunter becomes The Hunted. And he ends up.
40:39
It says in verse 30 when the Brethren find out they got him
40:43
out again, sent him to caesarea spent there a little bit of time
40:46
but he ends up in Tarsus back at home where he spent the next
40:50
seven to ten years, we're not sure how much exactly but since
40:54
the next seven and ten years there as God is discipling him
40:58
and to me there's so much irony here, ironically the Christians
41:02
in Damascus that he came to kill ended up saving his life.
41:07
That's the work of the gospel and what's ironic for a such a
41:12
public figure likes all. His ministry started in
41:15
isolation. It went forward to get people in
41:19
and out of his life. But you know how his ministry
41:22
ends alone. I was just recently looking up
41:26
the word like-mindedness again, studying for a future message
41:29
this week and just a reminder, this passage were Paul's writing
41:32
and he says, I don't have anybody like minded right now
41:35
except for Timothy and then I'm going to send him to you.
41:39
So even in his life, he was had one guy with him but he was
41:42
willing to be alone. So the church would be
41:44
strengthened. He started alone and the ends
41:47
alone and yet he was used greatly.
41:51
It's ironic So much irony in the scriptures.
41:55
I don't know the pathway to God that was God's will for saw.
41:57
I don't know the pathway for you.
41:59
I'm still learning the pathway for me but I do know this
42:03
everyone here. God has a plan for your
42:05
spiritual growth. He's going to use it in your
42:08
life. He had a plan to get you where
42:10
you're at, and he has a plan to get you moving forward.
42:12
So that you and I will grow spiritually, especially in these
42:16
last days, especially in the days, in which we live.
42:20
I know, every preacher and pastor and pundit though, hit
42:22
the pulpit, we live in the last days.
42:24
It seems like every generation has said that but men, I mean,
42:27
open your eyes, you see things in this generation.
42:29
No. Other generation has ever seen,
42:32
the condition of this world, the technology, the Antichrist, all
42:36
the little Antichrist spirit. It's the things that are set up
42:38
the One World Government, the Antichrist mentality around the
42:42
world like you are in the last days like Peter said.
42:44
Peter said, we are closer to the coming of the Lord than ever
42:47
before. But here's the thing, Jesus
42:51
said, in the last days, listen, he said many will say to me in
42:55
that day. Lord Lord have we not prophesied
42:58
in your name, have we not cast out demons in your name, have we
43:02
not done many wonders in your name and I'll declare to them.
43:05
Jesus said, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of
43:10
iniquity or you practice those of you, that practice
43:13
lawlessness, there's a group of people that are in and out of
43:16
the church in the last days. That are trusting in themselves
43:21
doing things in the name of God. But no relationship whatsoever.
43:25
Is that how you think you're going to get to heaven?
43:27
Do you think you're going to get to Heaven by your good deeds?
43:29
Or by the few things you do in God's name?
43:32
Or the the couple times you read the Bible?
43:34
Is that how it's not going to get you there?
43:36
It won't work. You need Jesus.
43:39
You need to repent of your sins and surrender your life to
43:41
Jesus. I mean, I think of the heaviness
43:43
of the last days also comes with it, justjust tiredness and, and
43:48
worry and fear. Anxiety and I think of what
43:50
Jesus said, he said, come unto me, all you, who are weary and
43:53
heavy-laden and what I will give you rest and I'm certain.
43:58
There are some listening to me right now you're just you're
44:00
looking for true rest. Another version of the Bible
44:04
puts it this way. Are you tired?
44:06
Are you worn out? Are you burned out on religion?
44:10
Come to me, get away with me and you'll recover your life and
44:15
I'll show you how to take a real wet arrest.
44:18
Just walk with me and work with me.
44:21
Watch How I do it. Maybe I'm talking to somebody
44:26
right now. That's try to find happiness in
44:28
this world. I mean, you've been very
44:31
successful, you've hit your goals and, and you have
44:34
accomplished what you wanted at this age and you've been super
44:37
successful. But it hasn't satisfied, you has
44:40
it because this world has a way of setting all these goals.
44:44
And once you get it all, you got to move again.
44:46
And then once you get all know, it's over here and I know you
44:48
got this. But what about over here and and
44:50
it's just constantly taking you over and over and over before
44:53
you know you've worked your whole life and you've never been
44:55
satisfied but you have everything you've ever wanted or
44:58
so you thought And you live with all the goals and life or the
45:03
education you've made everybody happy, you've done everything.
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You thought you've got all the money you've ever wanted.
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All the house and whatever it is that you measure.
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But you're still empty. It doesn't satisfy you reach
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this goal. And then it's another one, and
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you reach that one, and it's another one, then they pull the
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rug out from under you, and you got to do this one, then the
45:21
market tanks and then real estate those this, and then all,
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they don't have any cars to buy on and on the list goes and
45:28
you're running and running and running.
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Maybe someone here today is found themselves at a place
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where he had. I'm super happy.
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I got everything I've ever wanted, but there's still an
45:39
emptiness. As One Pastor said, it's a hole
45:43
in your heart. Maybe you've been disappointed.
45:48
And things haven't gone the way you've hoped.
45:52
Things didn't work out. The way, you planned your
45:54
Five-Year Plan, your 10-year plan or off and I think you're
45:57
at a stage in life, you go. I thought I'd be somewhere else
45:59
at this age. It's time to come to Jesus
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today. And say, Lord, I'm tired of
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living my own way. I want your plan for my life.
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Is Greg Laurie. Once said, I'm just sick and
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tired of being sick and tired and it's time to come to the
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Lord. Jesus died on the cross for the
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Forgiveness of your sins. And he invites you into a
46:26
relationship. It's amazing.
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Because if you think about, if you were the only person on
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Earth, Jesus would have died for you, nonetheless.
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That's how much he loves you individually.
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He loves you with a real genuineness and I have an
46:41
invitation for you. And anyone here, high or low
46:46
filled with friends or feeling alone everyone.
46:49
That's not sure. That they're if there are
46:50
Christian or not, if you don't have a certainty that Christ is
46:54
living in. You, you don't have the
46:56
confidence that you will go to heaven when you die, that can
46:59
all change right here right now. So Church, let's begin to pray.
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Father, I ask that you would draw men and women to yourself
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today, kind of looking at the life of Saul can speak to a lot
47:12
of Our Lives. A lot of things going on with
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us, and I just Ray there are those that are super successful
47:17
but still empty. There are those that really
47:20
didn't hit the goals. They thought and empty.
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There are those disappointed, and, and wrestling.
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There are those that are isolated right now and alone,
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those that are hurting and even grieving today.
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God, I pray you would reveal yourself to them in a fresh way.
47:39
A new way. And as the church is praying, if
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you're here and you say, I just needed to, I just want to follow
47:45
Jesus. I accept that invitation.
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I want to ask you where ever you are.
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Would you just stand to your feet right now?
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I want to pray with you. Like God.
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Like this is a public. I just felt like this weekend.
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This is the weekend for a public Declaration of your faith, in
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Jesus Christ, your repentance of sin.
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And so if you're here right now, I want to invite you to do just
48:06
that just stand up right, where you're at.
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You're in a place where we you're say, it's a safe place to
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the best of our ability. God bless you in the back.
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Who else would say to me? And I want to follow Jesus.
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That's my, that's my choice. I want to respond.
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I want to take that invitation. I want the Forgiveness of my
48:25
sins. God bless you, God bless you
48:27
guys here to this side. It is a real high and holy
48:32
moment. This is God's appointment for
48:35
you. He's prepared you for this
48:36
moment. This is the time.
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I know it got downstairs in the in at the res or online or in
48:45
the radio we don't see you but God acknowledges it don't you
48:48
worry about that. God sees your responses.
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Pull your car over right now. I just get in a place where you
48:55
can get some time just with God, maybe take your laptop into
48:58
another room. This is the moment.
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This is God's word to you. Anyone else?
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You know, there's a whole new category of people to I want to
49:09
speak to very quickly. They're called prodigals and you
49:14
know, only Christians, only a protocol would know what that
49:16
means someone who have been walking with the Lord has been
49:19
away for a while. A Prodigal God is calling you
49:22
back home as well. Maybe you'd say I'm like The
49:26
Prodigal Son. Left.
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Do my own thing. Ran away from God but God is
49:32
calling you back home. Listen, if you want your sin,
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forgiven if you want to know that when you die, you'll go to
49:38
heaven. If you want Jesus Christ to come
49:41
into your life right now is the time.
49:43
So if you're a product, I want you to respond to because, you
49:46
know, sometimes product was coming in out of the church.
49:49
They come in and out and I'm glad you're here.
49:52
I am so glad that this is the day that you're here.
49:56
But let's let it be let it be the time you seal your back for
49:59
good. Now, I don't mean to church
50:01
either, I just mean walking with the Lord.
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Are you a prodigal? That's coming home today?
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I want you, I want to give you a chance to publicly respond as
50:08
well and so just stand up. So I could pray with you.
50:11
God bless you. We had a brother last night was
50:14
a part of the foundational, part of this church years ago.
50:19
Bless you? And I remember the day he left.
50:24
God bless you guys. I remember the day he left and
50:28
then he got into some things then he got very very sick for
50:31
12 years. Then he got into some other
50:34
things and he sent me a text this week of some pictures where
50:39
he says, you know what? I'm getting rid of all this sin
50:40
in my life, getting rid of the sin in my house, and he showed
50:43
me some pictures of things that he was getting rid of and
50:46
burning and throwing away. And when, you know it, he was
50:49
worshipping right next to me on the front row last night, it's
50:52
time to come home and he gave a testimony.
50:55
He's not here today but he gave a testimony last night.
50:57
I invited him up so you could hear from his own lips.
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God's calling people home in these last days?
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Come on back. It's okay.
51:06
And so pastors, go ahead and connect or any of the guys that
51:08
you see standing go connect. So they know just like ananias
51:13
just like Barnabas that, they're not alone.
51:16
So we got some up here. We have some over here on the
51:18
side to the left. If you're a leader, you don't
51:24
have to be a pastor, your leader, in the church, get up.
51:26
Be used of God right now. There's somewhere.
51:28
I hear. I just think there's a personal
51:32
connection point right now. So you have some up here.
51:35
Thank you. Don't let anyone be missed.
51:39
Cure events, got that? Good, good.
51:43
So just pray with me. Would you you could say, God, I
51:46
ask you to forgive me of my sins.
51:50
Help me to turn away from my sinful past.
51:54
And a follow, you with my life. I'm serious.
52:00
About following you. All the days that you allow me.
52:08
And Lord, I know that you're moving on the hearts of men and
52:11
women today. That you are doing a work Among
52:14
Us that we cannot be ignored. Cannot be denied and cannot be
52:19
contained. You are ready to explode upon
52:22
this city. We just want to be a very small
52:25
part of it. Help us God to learn what we
52:28
need to learn to get rid of what, we need to get rid of, and
52:32
to move forward, with whatever you have for us.
52:34
Bless those that responded today, standing and sitting near
52:38
or far, have your way with them in Jesus name.
52:41
Amen. We pray that you've been
52:44
encouraged by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
52:46
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
52:49
Call us at 877, 30 Grace. That's eight 77304, 703 to
52:58
listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
53:01
lives dream Services. Visit us online at Calvary.
53:05
Co dot church or download our free Calvary Church app be
53:10
blessed as you worship Jesus this week.