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Acts 9:1-19a · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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So, let me give you a brief intro on what we're going to be doing in the next three weeks,
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because unfortunately you're stuck with me today and the next two weeks.
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! Because Nathan is going to be over at Oakwood.
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And so, if you look in Acts 9, you're going to see some of the subtitles.
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And subtitles aren't inspired by God, so we're going to break this up a little differently than some of the other things do.
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But today, we're going to look at just verse 1 through 19.
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And then the following week, we're going to basically go down to verse 31.
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And then we'll go 32 through the end of the chapter.
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And so, this week and next week are going to be about Saul turning into Paul.
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And then the following week, we will look at, you see that there's a couple of healings.
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There's a healing of Annias, and then there's Dorcas, who is restored to life.
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And we're actually going to use that text to actually talk about having a proper knowledge,
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a proper theology of what healing is.
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It's a subject that's meant a lot to me.
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For those of you who know it, I've kind of gone through in my life.
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But I want you to understand, like, biblically what healing is.
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And so, we're going to unpack that and hopefully destroy a lot of the myth
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and then return to a lot of the truth about the biblical view of what healing is.
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So, I promise not to call anybody up here, and I'm not going to hit you with a jacket and knock you over
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or try to make you all fall over.
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So, lay blankets over your face.
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But that'll be the next three weeks, basically.
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So, this week and next week will be Saul turning into Paul.
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And most of us here are not unfamiliar with the story of Saul.
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But I really pray, I've been praying that you would please, please just pause to look very closely at the life of this man
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and how God saved him and how God used him in hopes that it will touch your own soul this morning.
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So, let's just read the text together.
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Starting in verse 1, we'll go through verse 19.
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It says,
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But Saul, still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,
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went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus.
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So, if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
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Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
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And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,
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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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And he said,
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Who are you, Lord?
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And he said,
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I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
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But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.
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And the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
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And Saul rose from the ground.
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Although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.
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So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
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And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
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Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.
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The Lord said to him in a vision,
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Ananias.
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And he said,
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Here I am, Lord.
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And the Lord said to him,
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Rise and go to the street called Straight.
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And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul.
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For behold, he is praying.
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And he has seen me in a vision.
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And a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.
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But Ananias answered,
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Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
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And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name.
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But the Lord said to him,
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Go, for he is my chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel.
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For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.
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So Ananias departed and entered the house.
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And laying his hands on him, he said,
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Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me,
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so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
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And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.
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Then he rose and was baptized.
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And taking food, he was strengthened.
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Pray with me.
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Father, as always, it's a joy, a deep joy,
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and a pleasure to be with those who have come to encounter the same Jesus
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and to worship you together with them.
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And God, I ask this morning that by your Spirit and for your glory,
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you would work in our hearts and remind us of our salvation.
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And remind us of where you brought us from and where you're taking us.
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Lord, as we offer at this time to you as an act of worship,
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may my speech be pleasing to you.
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And may the listening of those who are here also be honoring.
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We love you, Lord, in Christ's name. Amen.
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So a few things that we're going to look at to just sort of help you.
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Like I'm going to make, we're going to walk through this story,
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but I want you to stop and basically contemplate each point in regard to your own life
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and in regard to your own salvation.
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So that's what I hope this morning will happen is that you will leave here
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really contemplating like the pit that Jesus has drawn you from
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and that your soul will be even more thankful,
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more gracious for the work of God in your life.
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So, y'all know me.
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Number one, I want you to contemplate this.
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You can see this in verses one and two,
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but really simply, our former life.
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So those of you who have been around the church for a number of years or not how long,
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like one of the first things in a lot of discipleship groups
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is they will teach you how to share your testimony,
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your story with other people,
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which is very, very valuable.
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And so number one is our former life,
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and we can see this in verses one and two.
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And so if you look back, just for a second, back at chapter 8,
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this is where Saul was first introduced,
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and he is seen on the scene of the execution of Stephen,
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and he is giving approval to Stephen's execution in verse 1 of chapter 8.
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And this execution triggered a region-wide persecution of the church,
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and Saul was one of the main guys who took off after this.
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If you look at verse 3 of chapter 8, it says this.
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Amidst this persecution, this is what happened.
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But Saul was ravaging the church,
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and entering house after house,
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he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
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If you see the word ravaging, I guess in most of your ESV Bibles,
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ravaging really means like to the idea of havoc.
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It's the idea of even use of a wild boar going into a vineyard and tearing things apart,
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and also of use of animals tearing people apart.
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It's the same word that's used in Greek literature.
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So you can literally say that Saul was tearing the church apart.
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And this was not necessarily an empire persecution from Rome.
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It was more of a Jewish persecution just in this region that happened.
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And so Luke connects, reconnects Saul here at the beginning of this chapter.
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And it says right here, as you can see,
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he was breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.
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Right?
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Yet we see the persecution in Jerusalem alone wasn't enough for Saul.
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He wanted to kind of extend that beyond Jerusalem itself and into the regions.
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And that's why he went to the chief priests and the elders and got permission to go.
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So he had legal authority to go and to round up all these people who were claiming to belong to the way,
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which was an early term for followers of Jesus.
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Meaning that they followed the way of Jesus.
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This understanding that Christ was the only way to God.
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And that they should follow the way of how Jesus lived and his teachings, etc.
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And so he was going for these people.
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And he had no regard.
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Whether you're a woman, whether you're a child, whether you're a man, old or young.
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He didn't care.
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If you claimed to belong to Christ, he was coming for you.
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He was tearing the church apart.
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And indeed, you really could call him the terrorist of his day.
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And as if he was saying, if you're a follower of this Christ, know I'm coming for you.
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And if I find you, it's not going to be pretty.
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I'm going to wipe your filthy kind off the face of the earth.
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You have blasphemed the God that I serve.
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And you have gone against the law of Moses.
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So I'm coming for you.
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It's as if he's got that condom mentality.
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And a lot of it, as we know, some of the worst persecution in the world and some of the worst acts of terror are from religious zealots.
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Because they really believe in what they're doing.
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And believe that somehow they're serving God in the process.
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So briefly, I know, again, most of you are very aware of this.
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I'm not going to bore you with a lot of history facts.
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But you should sort of know Saul's background a little bit.
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But he was born in Tarsus, a city known for its schools and its education, Greco-Roman thinking and philosophy.
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So he was exposed to all of this.
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And like his father, he was a Roman citizen.
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Which, if you don't really study that, you don't really know how significant that is.
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But it was huge.
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He had a lot of rights and a lot of privileges that other Jews didn't have at all.
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So he was a master of the languages of the day, including Greek and the Roman world, as well as Hebrew and Aramaic.
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He was very learned and well-read in the Greco-Roman thinking, culture, philosophy.
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And as a Jew, he grew up as a Pharisee in the house of Pharisees.
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He called himself a son of a Pharisee.
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And he wanted to be in the top religious elite of his day.
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Pharisee means separated ones.
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People that call themselves out from the main group to be extra zealous, extra holy,
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away from the others.
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And to add to that, around the age of 14, he studied under the rabbi of his day, like the top guy, Gamaliel.
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So Saul was the most driven and the most zealous.
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In Galatians 1, let me just read to you.
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So Paul, at this point, reflecting back on who he was,
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Galatians 1, verse 13, he says,
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For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
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And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people.
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So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
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So he was among the greatest persecutors ever in the church.
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And as the church was still small but spreading at this time, he thought,
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This is the time to end this nonsense.
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So that's his background.
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But if you notice what I just read in Galatians 1, he says,
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Many of you have heard of my former life.
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Which is where we get the first point here, our former life.
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So what about you?
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If you're in Christ today, you have a former life.
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You have a life that you lived and when you did not belong to Jesus,
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there was a time you were not in Christ at all.
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And notice, I have noticed like over the years that people who forget
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and don't remember where they came from and who they were,
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they grow very cold in their affections towards Christ over a period of time.
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Have you forgotten?
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Have you forgotten the sin and bondage that you were in before Christ delivered you?
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So as you grow in your relationship with Christ,
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you also should grow more and more of your awareness of how much you need him,
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not vice versa.
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All of us had different idols that we served,
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things that we loved more than God,
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things that we gave our life to that were not worthy.
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And all of us were slaves to sin.
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And Jesus says,
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he who commits sin is a slave to sin.
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But most of us come from several different scenarios.
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I don't want to be so bold to say you had to come from one of these scenarios.
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But it either starts off,
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I grew up in the church and in a Christian home,
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or I didn't grow up in the church or a Christian home.
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But for a lot of us,
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some of you may have become a believer at a very young age,
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legitimately.
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You walk with the Lord for a long time,
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never really do anything too crazy.
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But you are aware of your sin,
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and you really do trust in Christ as the Savior.
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And if that is you this morning,
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don't be one of those ridiculous people who say,
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well, I don't have that great of a testimony.
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When you hear someone get up and talk about drugs and sex and prison,
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don't ever compare like that, ever.
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It dishonors the work that God has done in your life.
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And it should actually cause you extreme joy and thanksgiving,
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because you didn't have to go through that.
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God could have just allowed you to be crazy and do all the stuff,
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but he didn't.
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He saved you at an early time.
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And he put people around you that taught you the gospel.
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Well, anyone who has lived the other life would tell you,
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like, you don't want to do that.
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Like, praise God.
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It's not like I needed to have this crazy life
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so I could come out and tell people about Jesus.
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Give thanks to him that he spared you a life of sin and brokenness.
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Others of you may have grown up in the church,
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and this is more like my story for the most part.
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And you just kind of play the game.
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Showed up on Sunday, Sunday school, did the deal,
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went on Wednesday nights just for extra credit.
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Mainly went because your parents made you.
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And later on, you just rebelled against that.
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You had a secret life off to the side, and that was me.
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And then later on, God humbled you and brought you back.
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And that was more or less my story.
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And then there's another type that grew up in the church,
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in a Christian home.
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And this is the people who, for a time,
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thought that their religious deeds made them right with God.
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I'm the goody-two-shoes.
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I don't drink, cuss, or chew, or go to those who do.
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Like, that's the old saying, right?
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And I have a really good friend of mine who grew up kind of like that.
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She was always the finger-pointer at me and my brother,
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which she should have been, but she was always like,
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you know, you guys aren't really living the life.
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But later on, she would tell you that she really doesn't think
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that she was born again most of her life until a few years ago
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because she was so full of her own self-righteousness and piety
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that she really didn't see her need for Jesus
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until God exposed that to her.
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Like, you're no different than the Pharisees.
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You're no different than the religious elite.
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And so God humbled you and brought you down
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and showed you that you really weren't that moral,
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really weren't that religious,
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and you came to know Christ.
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And the other scenario was you didn't grow up in the church
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or a Christian home.
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And you might have lived a pretty moral life.
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I know some guys that are, like, probably better guys than I am.
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Like, they haven't done as many crazy things as me.
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They're very nice.
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They're very patient.
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And I find almost that to be the hardest group to share the gospel with
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because they don't really see their need.
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They have to be able to see that their morality is nothing
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compared to God's holiness.
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And some of you, that might have been you.
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You might have been a good person before Jesus,
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but not really good compared to the blazing glory of the holiness of God.
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And then others of you,
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you might have lived that crazy life.
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You might have done some things that are very harmful to yourself,
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to your family.
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You lived in darkness and loved the darkness
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and were unashamed of it.
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And then at some point,
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God humbled you and brought you to himself.
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All of us have that story,
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so you need to value your story.
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You may have some similarities to others,
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but you have your own story.
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Only you are you.
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And it's not that God had to exercise more power to save other people than you.
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God doesn't have that problem.
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But at some point,
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he brought you down to your knees.
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So be amazed at his grace in your life.
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The psalmist said,
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Oh,
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give thanks to the Lord,
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for he is good,
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for his steadfast love endures forever.
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Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
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whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands.
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So celebrate what Christ has done in your life.
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What he is doing and what he will do for the glory of his name.
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Never forget that goodness.
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Remember,
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remember your story and what God has brought you from,
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the pit that he has brought you out of.
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We all have a former life.
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So that's the first point.
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Number two is our encounter with the living Christ.
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And we see this verses 3 through 9 in our story in Acts.
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Verses 3 through 9.
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So Paul's on the road.
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He encounters Jesus,
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the risen Son of God.
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So the language that's used in this story is anything but boring and casual.
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It's vivid.
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It's intense.
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It's dramatic.
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It's meant to shock the reader.
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So Saul has gone on about his agenda.
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They carry out his plans.
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And God abruptly,
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suddenly stops him in his tracks.
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It says,
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So how did that happen?
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A light from heaven shone.
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This idea of it flashing, right?
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And this isn't a light from the material creation.
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Because later on we read that this was brighter than the noonday sun.
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It was a radiance of light that seemed to be something that Saul would have known about from the Old Testament.
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Something that Isaiah or Ezekiel or Daniel would have encountered.
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This intense, bright light.
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And it's a sign of like the holy presence of God.
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And he seems to almost be aware that something like that is going on.
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But he's terrified.
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So on the Damascus road,
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Saul of Tarsus was confronted with the blazing glory of the risen Son of God.
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Saul, so abrupt that he fell to the ground, probably off a horse.
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Which if you've ridden a horse and fallen, it hurts.
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It's something you've got to just get back up and keep doing or quit.
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But, so, that itself can be startling.
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But also, he's blinded by the sheer holy radiance from the man that's standing in front of him.
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But observe, he doesn't stop there.
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He gets called out.
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Saul, Saul.
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Right?
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Called him by his name.
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Specifically, have you ever noticed this while I was studying this?
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Do you see the sovereign grace of God here?
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Why didn't he address the other men?
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He just addresses Saul.
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And not these other unbelievers who are with him.
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They hear it, but they don't see him.
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So, Saul is called out by name.
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And he hears the charge against him.
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Why are you persecuting me?
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Confused.
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Bewildered.
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Scared.
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He asks, who are you?
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Sir, our Lord.
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And in terror, imagine this.
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He hears the voice.
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I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
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So, imagine that horror of encountering the risen Son of God who you rejected and mocked.
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And that you gave approval to the man, for them to kill the very man who was telling you about Jesus, Stephen.
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You cheered that on.
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But, wait a minute.
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Saul is persecuting the church.
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Right?
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But Jesus says, you're persecuting me.
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And why is that?
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And most of us understand that to persecute the church is to also persecute Christ himself.
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Because we are members of his body.
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We are the bride of Christ.
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We are one with Christ.
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And so, anything done to Christ is something done to the church.
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And vice versa.
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And so, shock.
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This is like his worst nightmare coming true.
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Like the Jesus that he had preached against.
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And the persecutors that he had been arresting and putting to death.
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All of a sudden, he's wrong.
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Stephen was right.
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Imagine that.
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So, he's confronted with all these violent crimes that he has committed against the risen Son of God.
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So, Saul set out to arrest Christians.
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But instead, Christ arrests Saul instead.
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Flip that.
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Christ literally arrests Saul on the road.
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He uses language in the New Testament saying, like, I was apprehended by Jesus.
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So, he is broken and traumatized.
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And you kind of see that his companions sort of pick him up, take him on to Damascus.
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And he stays there for three days.
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And he's blind.
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He doesn't sleep or eat.
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Not sure if he was fasting and he was just reflecting over his life.
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Or if that trauma was so intense that he just couldn't eat.
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Couldn't sleep.
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Or maybe even both.
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Nonetheless, he expected to come into that city a conquering hero.
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But instead, he comes crawling literally on his knees.
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Because he has met King Jesus on the road.
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Just hold your hand in Acts 9.
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But just flip over to Acts 26 really quick.
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So, later on in Acts, Paul is giving an account before King Agrippa.
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And he reflects back on this story.
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And it kind of gives us a little bigger picture of what happened.
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Acts 26, verse 12.
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And this is Paul talking.
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Who was Saul.
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I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
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At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun,
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that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.
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And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language,
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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
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So, to kick against the goads was a phrase.
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A goat is this long, pointy stick that was used by a herdsman to move cattle and to move stubborn livestock.
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But in the Greco-Roman world, this was a phrase that was used to basically say,
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by your actions and by your life, you are opposing a deity.
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So, he understood, I'm opposing God in some way.
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And he said,
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Who are you, Lord?
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And the Lord said,
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I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
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But rise and stand upon your feet.
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For I have appeared to you for this purpose,
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to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me
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and those in which I will appear to you,
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delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles,
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to whom I am sending you to open their eyes,
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so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God,
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that they may receive forgiveness of sins
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and place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
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So, another picture of what story just happened.
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And so, just remember that regardless of your story,
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we all have had some encounter with the risen Son of God.
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If Jesus was dead, in fact, and not living,
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you wouldn't have an encounter with Him.
26:45
So, regardless of that, according to God's sovereign plan,
26:49
at some point, He began working in your heart,
26:52
convincing you, showing you your need, guilt in your life.
26:56
Shame in your life.
26:58
Worry and burdens that you were carrying in your life.
27:02
Showing you that you needed a Savior.
27:05
And this is what's going on.
27:06
He's moving in Saul's life, convicting him of sin.
27:11
Right?
27:12
But some of us, I don't ever want you just to compare just to Saul,
27:18
because a big mistake that a lot of people make is thinking,
27:20
I hadn't had that Damascus Road experience,
27:22
so am I actually a believer or not?
27:26
Well, the truth is that God saves the same way,
27:29
but yet that process may look differently.
27:33
Some of you may have had an experience like this,
27:35
like God knocks you down, literally,
27:37
and you came on your knees,
27:38
and you literally gave your life to Christ at that time.
27:42
Some of you may have had that.
27:44
Others, it's been a more gradual process,
27:47
where Christ was slowly knocking down the idols in your life,
27:53
making you more and more aware of your need.
27:56
And at some point, you were converted.
27:58
You came to Christ.
28:00
So, something I also want you to notice in this text
28:04
is that regardless, God took the initiative, not you.
28:07
God hunted Saul down.
28:10
He didn't just say, you know, just kind of waited like,
28:13
Saul, I really would like you to possibly be a missionary.
28:16
How do you feel about that?
28:18
He, like, literally hunts Saul down and knocks him off the horse.
28:22
And regardless of how you feel about it,
28:23
that's the same way he did to you.
28:26
At some point in your life, he showed you.
28:29
He convinced you of your need for him.
28:33
So, God took that initiative.
28:35
God sought us and bought us.
28:41
A Puritan, great writer John Flavel,
28:45
contemplating on this idea of when we came to know Christ,
28:49
he said,
28:49
A remarkable performance of God's providence for his people
28:54
is the ordering of the occasion,
28:58
the instrument, and the means of their conversion.
29:01
You are more beholden to him for this than all your other mercies.
29:07
I cannot but think that your heart must be deeply affected by the thought of it.
29:12
Every gracious heart loves to meditate on this.
29:16
It is certainly the sweetest history that was ever told.
29:20
Oh, what a sweet remembrance it should bring to your soul
29:24
to remember that encounter with the living Christ.
29:30
Thirdly, back in Acts 9,
29:32
thirdly, our faithful helpers,
29:36
our faithful helpers,
29:39
and you see this just in the following verses,
29:41
verses 19 through,
29:44
excuse me, I wrote that wrong,
29:46
just to give you the correct,
29:47
10 through 14.
29:50
So, there was a servant of God,
29:52
a believer in Damascus,
29:54
Ananias,
29:55
a faithful follower of the Lord,
29:58
that God sort of wakes up, basically,
30:00
and says,
30:01
Ananias,
30:02
it's like a picture of almost in the Old Testament
30:04
where God called out the prophet Samuel
30:07
as a young boy and said,
30:08
Samuel,
30:09
and woke him up, right,
30:11
in a vision.
30:13
So he responded,
30:14
Here am I, Lord,
30:14
indicating he was ready and eager
30:18
and available to serve God at that moment.
30:21
So Ananias had heard of Saul.
30:24
He heard of how scary he was
30:26
and all the acts of terror
30:27
he had been taking out on the church.
30:30
And he is like,
30:31
he's done this in Jerusalem,
30:33
and I know that he's come here to Damascus
30:35
to do the same thing,
30:36
even to people like me.
30:39
So he had a lot of reasons to think twice
30:41
before going to Saul.
30:44
So even though he was afraid, though,
30:46
he chooses to trust the Lord and to go.
30:48
And notice this,
30:49
it says Saul was praying.
30:52
And so in a way,
30:53
Ananias would be the means
30:55
by which God answered that prayer.
30:58
So can you imagine,
30:59
like just stop,
31:00
just think about this,
31:01
imagine God calling you to go
31:03
and share Christ
31:06
with an Islamic extremist
31:08
who has made it his duty in the past
31:11
to kill and arrest all people
31:13
who didn't obey the Quran and Muhammad.
31:17
Just imagine that.
31:18
Like that's about the intensity
31:19
of what is going on here.
31:22
So the application is,
31:24
again, no matter what your story is,
31:25
all of us can look back.
31:27
I know I can.
31:28
I can name them for you.
31:30
Of people that God sent
31:31
at the right time
31:32
to listen to you,
31:34
to love you,
31:35
to speak the truth to you,
31:36
to pray with you,
31:39
to show you how to walk with Jesus.
31:41
They embodied the love
31:43
and compassion of Christ
31:44
before you,
31:46
taught you the truth,
31:49
warned you about your sin,
31:50
warned you about the coming judgment,
31:52
and pointed to the cross
31:53
and said,
31:54
God has made a way
31:55
for you to be reconciled
31:56
to himself.
32:00
A man named Daryl Johnson,
32:03
Larry Trammell,
32:04
Josh Stringer,
32:05
or Zach Watson,
32:06
all were men
32:06
who God placed in my path
32:09
when I was around 18
32:10
to help me see my need for Christ
32:12
and to point me to Christ.
32:14
And then the end of the figure of speech
32:16
almost took my hand
32:17
and walked me to Jesus.
32:20
Just contemplate who that is.
32:21
Men and women
32:22
who love you and disciples you.
32:24
It may have even been your parents.
32:26
So I challenge you
32:27
just to do something, okay?
32:28
Like this week,
32:30
whoever God has used in your life
32:31
to help you know Christ
32:33
that may have been a part
32:35
of your conversion experience,
32:37
call them,
32:38
reach out to them,
32:39
and thank them
32:39
for just being obedient
32:41
and being faithful
32:42
and available
32:44
and not afraid
32:45
even to come to you
32:46
and to talk to you.
32:48
Reach out to those people.
32:50
It will cultivate
32:51
a deeper joy
32:52
in your own salvation.
32:53
Number four,
32:57
verses 15 through 18,
33:00
our conversion.
33:02
Our conversion.
33:05
So,
33:06
what was Saul's chosen purpose?
33:07
We've kind of read about it.
33:10
It says it right here.
33:11
He is a chosen instrument of mine
33:13
to carry my name
33:15
before the Gentiles,
33:16
kings,
33:17
and children of Israel.
33:18
Literally,
33:19
it means like a vessel of election.
33:21
The religious zealot,
33:24
Saul,
33:24
who became the apostle Paul,
33:26
carrying the gospel of Jesus
33:28
across the Roman world.
33:30
That was going to be his mission.
33:32
Planning churches,
33:33
pastoring,
33:35
teaching.
33:36
I don't mean building buildings.
33:38
I mean planting churches.
33:39
That's what he was going to do
33:40
throughout the Roman world.
33:42
And because of that task,
33:44
because of that task,
33:46
he would suffer
33:47
for the sake of Christ
33:49
like we just read right here.
33:52
It's possible
33:53
no other believer
33:54
suffered as Paul suffered,
33:56
taking the gospel
33:57
to a sinful world.
33:58
You can read in 2 Corinthians 11,
34:00
this account of all the stuff
34:02
that he's been through
34:02
up to that point.
34:04
Imprisonments,
34:05
countless beatings,
34:07
often near death,
34:08
40 lashes five times over,
34:11
he said,
34:12
beaten with rods three times,
34:15
stoned once,
34:16
and shipwrecked three times,
34:17
and on and on he goes,
34:19
all for the sake of Christ.
34:22
When most of us
34:22
have a hard time
34:23
crossing the street
34:24
or crossing the hallway
34:26
in our dorm room
34:27
just to talk to someone
34:28
about Christ.
34:29
But this man was convinced
34:31
that Jesus was
34:32
the Son of God
34:32
and was convinced
34:34
that eternity
34:35
was weighing in the balance.
34:37
He was so grateful
34:38
for his own salvation
34:40
that he couldn't just
34:40
keep it to himself.
34:41
So we have to cultivate
34:43
those things
34:44
in our life.
34:46
So conversion, right?
34:48
Most would say
34:49
at this point,
34:49
this is when Saul
34:50
was actually converted,
34:51
not on the road,
34:52
but at the time
34:53
the Holy Spirit
34:54
was convincing him
34:55
and showing him,
34:56
working in him,
34:58
and at some point
34:59
he was born again.
35:00
He was regenerated,
35:01
which was all
35:02
an act of God.
35:04
Not something
35:04
that we cooperate with,
35:06
but it was all
35:06
an act of God.
35:07
And this is,
35:09
conversion is basically,
35:11
basically this.
35:12
You want a definition.
35:13
It's like our willing,
35:14
our willing response
35:16
to Christ
35:17
and to the gospel
35:18
where we place
35:20
our total trust
35:21
and faith in Christ alone.
35:23
It kind of has two sides,
35:24
faith and repentance,
35:25
like conversion,
35:28
faith and repentance
35:29
is seen in the scripture.
35:31
So we throw ourselves
35:32
before Jesus,
35:33
trusting in him alone
35:34
to save us.
35:35
We repent of our sins.
35:36
We renounce
35:37
our former way of life
35:38
and we follow Christ
35:40
and follow his way.
35:43
And it's all because
35:44
of the initiative
35:45
of God's working in us
35:46
to be born again.
35:47
It's the evidence
35:48
of our regeneration.
35:51
So,
35:52
a couple things here.
35:55
Ananias went to Saul
35:56
and he called him
35:57
his dear brother.
35:58
Like a very,
35:59
like,
35:59
tender phrase.
36:01
This man who was
36:02
an enemy, right?
36:03
He's just calling
36:04
dear brother.
36:04
And so,
36:08
he healed him physically,
36:11
but the Holy Spirit
36:12
entered Saul's soul.
36:14
Do you believe,
36:15
like in the power
36:15
of the gospel,
36:16
do you believe
36:17
there's no one out there
36:18
who is not fair game
36:20
for God?
36:22
A lot of us do.
36:23
We write them off,
36:24
think,
36:24
oh,
36:24
they're too far gone,
36:26
they're too religious,
36:27
or they're too much
36:28
into the world.
36:28
No.
36:31
This story is meant
36:32
to just trump that
36:33
and show you
36:34
that the gospel
36:35
is the power
36:36
of God's salvation.
36:38
Don't underestimate
36:39
the power
36:40
of the gospel.
36:42
It can change
36:43
anyone,
36:45
literally.
36:46
So,
36:47
the application here
36:48
is that
36:49
he was converted
36:50
at this point,
36:51
but some of you
36:51
may remember,
36:52
like I said,
36:52
that exact time
36:53
it happened,
36:53
or it might have been
36:54
over a period of time,
36:56
but regardless,
36:58
you cannot
36:58
encounter the risen Lord
37:00
and remain unchanged.
37:02
It's just not
37:03
going to happen.
37:03
So,
37:03
examine your own life,
37:06
and I'm going to just
37:06
steal an illustration
37:07
from Paul Washer,
37:10
but he said,
37:12
imagine if I came in here
37:13
late to be here,
37:16
and I said,
37:17
I apologize for being late
37:18
because on the way here
37:19
I had a flat tire,
37:21
I had to get out,
37:22
and while I was
37:23
changing my tire,
37:23
an 18-wheeler
37:24
came by
37:25
going 100 miles an hour
37:26
and hit me.
37:29
But,
37:29
I'm okay,
37:30
and that's why
37:30
I was late though.
37:32
He said,
37:33
there's only two options.
37:34
One is you're lying,
37:35
because no one can
37:36
encounter an 18-wheeler
37:38
like that
37:39
and just walk away
37:40
unchanged,
37:41
or you're crazy.
37:43
But here is his question.
37:46
What is bigger,
37:47
an 18-wheeler
37:48
or the Lord God Almighty
37:49
who created heaven
37:50
and earth?
37:52
You cannot encounter God
37:53
and just walk away
37:54
unchanged.
37:56
Your change may not
37:57
be as dramatic,
37:58
but you're going to change.
37:59
You're not going to remain
38:00
who you were.
38:01
God is going to give you
38:02
more love and more joy
38:03
for Him and His ways,
38:05
and it will change you
38:06
over time.
38:08
All of us have been
38:09
transformed by Jesus,
38:10
and we shouldn't be
38:11
who we once were.
38:14
Number five,
38:15
this is the last thing.
38:17
We'll see some more
38:18
of this next week,
38:19
but number five
38:20
is our new family,
38:21
18-19.
38:24
It says,
38:25
immediately something like,
38:26
scales fell from His eyes
38:27
and He regained His sight.
38:29
Then He rose and was baptized.
38:32
In taking food,
38:33
He was strengthened,
38:34
and for some days
38:34
He was with the disciples
38:36
at Damascus.
38:37
So,
38:38
this is what happened.
38:38
He regained His sight,
38:39
He was filled with the Spirit,
38:41
and then in response,
38:43
He was baptized
38:43
as a demonstration
38:45
of that inward change
38:46
that had occurred
38:47
in His life.
38:49
And very cool,
38:50
it says He got up,
38:51
He ate,
38:52
and He was strengthened.
38:53
So,
38:54
if you know anything
38:55
about the Old Testament,
38:56
a lot of the narratives,
38:57
like Elijah,
38:58
for example,
38:59
this was like symbolic
39:01
of sort of breaking a fast,
39:03
like your time
39:04
that you've been struggling
39:05
is over,
39:06
and so you eat,
39:07
and you get up,
39:08
and you move on.
39:10
David did that
39:11
after his child died,
39:12
very similar.
39:14
He got up,
39:14
and he ate a meal.
39:16
And so,
39:16
his attitude,
39:17
not just toward Christ,
39:18
changed,
39:18
but his attitude
39:19
towards the church
39:20
changed.
39:22
He began to see them
39:23
as family,
39:24
as brothers and sisters,
39:26
and he learned
39:28
that they were not
39:28
who he thought he was.
39:29
You know,
39:30
learned that they were not
39:31
who he thought they were
39:32
at all.
39:34
Because where he thought
39:35
they were outlaws
39:35
and blasphemers,
39:37
he actually learned
39:37
that they weren't.
39:39
So,
39:41
applying this,
39:42
I hope that
39:44
all of you
39:45
have a deep love
39:46
for the church.
39:47
Not this,
39:48
but this,
39:49
and outside of that,
39:52
the people of God.
39:54
It is said in Scripture
39:55
that all those
39:55
who are truly born again
39:57
will love the church.
40:00
And people would say,
40:01
I love Jesus,
40:02
but I hate the church.
40:02
Like,
40:02
you need to examine your heart.
40:05
Need to examine your heart.
40:06
But,
40:07
it's a sign
40:08
of true conversion
40:09
that you love
40:10
the people of God.
40:12
So,
40:12
do you love the church?
40:14
I know that when I
40:15
became a believer,
40:16
like,
40:16
you couldn't keep me away.
40:18
Like,
40:18
if you were,
40:19
I was seeking people out,
40:20
like,
40:20
hey,
40:21
share with me,
40:22
teach me.
40:22
I want to hang out with you.
40:23
I don't care if you don't
40:24
want me to hang out with you.
40:25
I'm going to.
40:26
Every Bible study that happened,
40:27
I was at it.
40:28
Whether it was a bad Bible study
40:30
or a good one,
40:30
I was there.
40:33
Couldn't keep me away.
40:34
Like,
40:34
I wanted to be
40:35
with the people of God.
40:36
They were like a new family to me.
40:38
And they loved me more
40:40
than a lot of my buddies
40:42
from my old life
40:43
ever did at all.
40:45
And so,
40:45
you should love the church
40:47
if you have been
40:47
truly born again.
40:50
So,
40:50
in closing,
40:52
just a couple of things.
40:55
So,
40:55
God can use anyone,
40:57
no matter how obscure,
40:59
to reach others for Christ.
41:01
Ananias had no idea
41:03
exactly what this man,
41:06
he was going to be with,
41:07
would become.
41:08
Right?
41:09
But God used
41:10
this humble man
41:10
to go
41:12
and to share
41:12
with the man
41:13
who would become
41:13
the Apostle Paul.
41:16
And secondly,
41:16
never underestimate
41:17
the power of the gospel
41:19
to save anyone.
41:20
We've already talked about that.
41:23
Never underestimate
41:23
the power of the gospel
41:24
to save anyone.
41:26
And if you're in need of that,
41:27
if you're in need of
41:28
God reviving you
41:29
a little bit
41:29
in your own walk,
41:30
He can do that too.
41:32
He can give you
41:33
a clean,
41:34
new heart today.
41:36
So,
41:37
the other thing is
41:38
to treasure your story
41:40
in Christ.
41:41
Treasure your story.
41:42
Don't forget
41:44
who you were
41:45
in the darkness
41:47
that you once walked in.
41:48
So,
41:50
as Jesus said
41:51
to the man
41:52
who He healed
41:54
of demons
41:54
in Luke 8,
41:56
He said,
41:57
this says,
41:58
the man
41:58
for whom the demons
42:00
had gone out
42:00
begged that he might
42:01
stay with Jesus.
42:03
But Jesus sent him away
42:04
saying,
42:05
return to your home
42:07
and declare
42:08
how much God
42:09
has done for you.
42:11
And he went away
42:12
proclaiming
42:12
throughout the whole city
42:13
how much Jesus
42:14
had done for him.
42:16
do that.
42:18
Go and proclaim
42:19
how much Jesus
42:20
has done for you.
42:22
And do it now
42:23
and do it this week.
42:24
Let's pray together.