Theological Status: FAITHFUL (Sound)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Philadelphia
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. ⚠️ Ministry Warning: While this specific sermon is faithful, this ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. ⚠️ Ministry Warning: While this specific sermon is faithful, this ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: Are we wielding religious zeal as a sword to judge others, or are we embracing the humility of the Gospel that transforms us into lights for the world?
Pastoral Analysis: Pastor Sowell delivers a compelling exposition of Acts 9, effectively contrasting Saul's self-righteous aggression with the transformative power of Christ's grace. The sermon is strong in its application of humility and the rejection of self-driven religiosity. However, the core Gospel message—the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ for our sins—was omitted, requiring a pastoral pivot to ensure the congregation understands the foundation of their new life.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Philadelphia — The sermon demonstrates a faithful adherence to the Word of Christ, maintaining doctrinal integrity while relying on Gospel grace. Although the specific mechanism of the Gospel was not fully articulated, the overall trajectory of the message—moving from self-righteousness to humility and obedience—aligns with the faithful witness of the Philadelphia church, which kept the Word and did not deny Christ's name.
Big Idea: True obedience to Christ requires moving beyond self-driven religiosity to embrace the transformative power of the Gospel, which often involves suffering and humility. [00:36:49 ▶️ 📄]
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Acts 9:1-19
- Usage Classification: Expository
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ⚠️ CAUTION - The use of coarse language or pejoratives, specifically referring to a congregant as 'fat' and eating 'too many Doritos' in an analogy, while intended to illustrate harsh truth, risks crossing the boundary of pastoral decorum and may cause unnecessary offense or distraction.
✝️ Christological Focus: Redemptive-Historical
"The sermon connects the historical event of Saul's conversion to the broader redemptive work of Christ, emphasizing how Christ intervenes to transform the worst enemies into His servants."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 19 | Referenced: 6 | Alluded: 3
📖 View 1 Passages Read Aloud
-
Acts 9:1-19
[00:34:43 ▶️ 📄]
"And he said, who are you? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So he trembling and astounded said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. And Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. But they led him by hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple of the master's name, Ananias. And him to the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am, Lord. So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straith, and acquire the house of Judas, the one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying. And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him, so that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered the Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he is the authority for the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. and Ananias went his way and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me to you to receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit immediately there was felt in his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized so when he received food he was strengthened and Saul spent some days with the disciples of Damascus"
Key References: Romans, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hebrews, 1 Peter, 2 Peter
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 3,710 words
📌 View 12 Key Topics Addressed
-
Old Testament Necessity
[00:37:11 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues against the idea that the New Testament replaces the Old, stating the Old Testament is Jesus' Bible and essential for understanding the New. -
Saul of Tarsus's Background
[00:38:01 ▶️ 📄]
> Details Saul's unique status as a Roman citizen and a 'Pharisee of Pharisees' who was zealous for God but trapped in religiosity. -
Pharisaical Religiosity
[00:38:53 ▶️ 📄]
> Explains how the Pharisees added 10,000 laws to the Torah, expecting a political Messiah ('Ben-Hur') rather than the suffering servant they rejected. -
The Damascus Road Conversion
[00:42:51 ▶️ 📄]
> Describes Saul's encounter with the light and Jesus, highlighting how his self-righteous persecution was met with divine intervention and humility. -
Self-Righteousness vs. God's Work
[00:45:56 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor applies Saul's story to modern Christians, warning against 'enacting our own righteousness' and using religious zeal to harm others instead of showing love. -
Self-Righteousness vs. Divine Obedience
[00:45:56 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts Saul's initial 'bad obedience' driven by his own righteousness and religiosity with the 'good obedience' required by God, noting that working out of one's own way creates more mess than it solves. -
Suffering as a Spiritual Tool
[00:52:26 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that suffering is not inherently bad but is a mechanism God uses to draw believers closer to Christ, citing Paul's future sufferings and the struggles of Christians in other parts of the world. -
Transformation and New Birth
[00:54:32 ▶️ 📄]
> Referencing Wesley, the pastor describes Saul's conversion as 'pangs of the new birth,' emphasizing that God uses horrific past actions to bring about a complete transformation from spiritual death to life. -
Truth and Hard Preaching
[00:57:55 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses an analogy of a blunt doctor to explain his preaching style, asserting that he will not sugarcoat the truth of God's word, even if it 'ruffles feathers,' because the goal is spiritual health, not comfort. -
Scriptural Authority and Truth
[00:57:55 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor asserts that God's word is absolute ('not a buffet') and insists on delivering hard truths rather than comforting lies, using a medical analogy to illustrate the necessity of hearing the truth even if it is unpleasant. -
Obedience and Discernment
[00:58:36 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor challenges the congregation to reflect on the nature of their obedience, asking rhetorical questions about whether they understand what obedience looks like and how they are hearing Christ's call. -
Church Mission and Ministry
[00:58:51 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor prompts the congregation to identify who they are called to minister to within the broader community, framing this as a prayerful consideration for the church's direction.
🖼️ View 10 Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:37:03 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts a conversation with a fellow church member who claimed the New Testament makes the Old Testament unnecessary, which the pastor uses as a setup to argue for the value of the Old Testament. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:39:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses the analogy of a 'Ben-Hur Jesus' to describe the Pharisees' expectation of a strong, political Messiah who would defeat the Romans, contrasting it with the actual Jesus they rejected. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:42:03 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor compares Saul's need for letters from synagogues to operate outside his jurisdiction to a policeman needing permission to act outside their local jurisdiction. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:43:19 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor references the Old Testament figures Daniel and Ezekiel, who both fell on their faces when encountering a great light from God, to illustrate the significance of Saul falling to the ground. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:46:05 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal admission of having 'picked up a sword that's not ours to sling' and cutting people down due to religious religiosity, illustrating the danger of self-righteousness. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:45:30 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor imagines the internal monologue and facial expressions of Saul (Paul) upon encountering Jesus, describing the horror of realizing his persecution was misguided. He also recounts Charles Spurgeon's observation that the proud persecutor was led into Damascus as a captive/slave (doulos) to Christ. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:50:23 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor asks the congregation to empathize with Ananias, imagining the difficulty of laying hands on a known persecutor who had murdered and beaten believers, highlighting the struggle of obedience when God calls us to help those we dislike. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:57:10 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about attending 'Celebration Recovery' not because he had a specific addiction to recover from, but because he witnessed the 'dead coming back to life' in others, paralleling Saul's transformation. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:57:55 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses a humorous analogy of a blunt doctor telling a patient they are 'fat' and eating 'too many Doritos' to illustrate his commitment to preaching the hard truth of Scripture rather than offering comforting lies. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:57:59 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses an analogy of a doctor delivering a harsh diagnosis to a patient who is unhealthy ('fat', 'eat too many Doritos'). He contrasts the desire for a truthful diagnosis that leads to change with the danger of a doctor lying to make the patient feel good temporarily while they die, illustrating why he will not 'pull the wool over your eyes' regarding God's word.
🚀 View 5 Calls to Action
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:37:34 ▶️ 📄]
> Read the Old Testament alongside the New Testament. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:56:00 ▶️ 📄]
> Read specific biblical books (Hebrews, Paul's letters, Peter, Gospels) to observe the transformation of Saul into Paul. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:58:48 ▶️ 📄]
> Pray for the church's direction and discernment regarding who they are called to minister to in the community. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:58:48 ▶️ 📄]
> Pray for the church's ministry direction and outreach. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:59:03 ▶️ 📄]
> Recite the Lord's Prayer together as a group.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Sound & Commendable
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is not fully intact. While the sermon is expository and orthodox in its narrative flow, it lacks a substantive exposition of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. The core mechanism of how Christ's death satisfies divine wrath for sin was not explicitly proclaimed, resulting in a Gospel Omission. |
| Soteriology | ✅ PASS | The sermon correctly identifies that salvation is a work of God's grace, not human merit, contrasting Saul's self-righteousness with his transformation by Christ. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | The pastor affirms the unity and value of the Old and New Testaments, correctly interpreting the historical narrative of Acts in light of Scripture. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | The sermon employs a strictly expository method, deriving its main points and narrative flow directly from the historical text of Acts 9. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The sermon presents a Christological focus, highlighting the sovereignty of Christ in conversion and the humility required before Him. |
| Sacramentology | ✅ PASS | No sacramental errors were detected in the report. |
| Confessional Depth | ⚠️ MODERATE | The sermon offers strong practical application and narrative exposition but lacks the explicit doctrinal depth regarding the atonement that would characterize a robust confessional presentation. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
What is this? This section checks if the sermon contains the essential building blocks of the Gospel. We look for explicit, substantive mentions of God's holy standard, human inability, and Christ's finished work on the cross.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ Total Depravity And Inability:
"He was dead in his religiousness. He was dead in his unrighteousness. He was dead." [00:55:04 ▶️ 📄]
✅ Active Obedience Of Christ:
"But Jesus says we want His righteousness. We want obedience to the one that brings life, not death." [00:55:48 ▶️ 📄]
❌ The Cross And Atonement: Not observed in the sermon.
🛡️ Verified Orthodox Mechanics
✅ The necessity of humility in the Christian life.
✅ The unity of Scripture (Old and New Testaments).
✅ The transformative power of Christ's grace in conversion.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟡 Minor Incomplete Gospel Presentation
Root Cause: Moralistic Deism (Reducing the Gospel to ethical improvement rather than substitutionary atonement)
The Belief/Behavior: The sermon lacked a substantive exposition of Penal Substitutionary Atonement, focusing instead on the narrative of Saul's conversion and the call to humility.
Why It's Dangerous: Without explicitly stating that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, the congregation may miss the foundational truth of how their salvation was accomplished, potentially reducing the Gospel to mere moral improvement.
Biblical Correction: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
✅ Commendations
Theological Insight | Rejection of Self-Righteousness
The pastor effectively contrasts Saul's self-driven religiosity with the humility required by the Gospel, warning against using religious zeal to judge or harm others.
Pastoral Application | Embracing Suffering and Humility
The sermon provides a compelling challenge to view suffering not as a failure but as a spiritual benefit that draws believers closer to Christ, using the example of global persecution to provide perspective.
Biblical Fidelity | Value of the Old Testament
The pastor rightly commands the congregation to read the Old Testament to gain deeper understanding of the New, countering the idea that the Old Testament is obsolete.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:00:00] Well, thank you for having us this morning. It's a little cooler down here. I appreciate you all coming to the pastorate because I'm going to be melting upstairs. So there will be a puddle where I was probably at. So, all right, let's get started with announcements. We've got some really cool stuff coming up here.
[00:00:21] and Wednesday night dinners, folks.
[00:00:24] Who all comes to those?
[00:00:27] All right.
[00:00:28] Hey, I encourage you to come.
[00:00:30] It's a good time of fellowship.
[00:00:31] And something I'm going to encourage you to do is start from this week going forward.
[00:00:36] Bring a friend.
[00:00:38] That's the greatest way to get folks to come to church.
[00:00:40] Invite them.
[00:00:42] I read a statistic the other day.
[00:00:43] Do you know how many people have stopped going to church?
[00:00:47] Exactly.
[00:00:48] They move.
[00:00:50] When they used to go to church, they went to a new place.
[00:00:52] They don't know anybody.
[00:00:53] And now it's kind of awkward, like, well, you know, where did I go?
[00:00:58] So, hey, we're at a girls' quarter.
[00:01:00] Buy the cashier when you're out talking to somebody at Bump-In, too.
[00:01:03] Buy it for church.
[00:01:04] Buy it for friends.
[00:01:05] I'd love to see your grandkids.
[00:01:06] Your grandchild.
[00:01:08] Show them what we're going to bring up.
[00:01:10] So I'd just like to say we're away for a good night dinner.
[00:01:14] So we have a choir party at 630 afterwards.
[00:01:20] Meetings for committee members are on the back as well.
[00:01:22] And BBS folks, who's excited about BBS?
[00:01:33] That's going to be July 11th.
[00:01:40] That's going to be July 22nd.
[00:01:44] 538.
[00:01:45] If you can come and help a lot of kids.
[00:01:47] The kids aren't a good thing if you can help them.
[00:01:50] You can help decorate.
[00:01:52] Help shop for the park.
[00:01:53] Whatever you can do, that would be great.
[00:01:55] Can I say something?
[00:01:56] Yeah.
[00:01:57] You still need help.
[00:01:59] But I need help.
[00:02:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:02:00] Oh, I'm the grass guy.
[00:02:02] If you drink or use 2-liter soap bottles, I need the ones with straight sides.
[00:02:10] I need 50 of them.
[00:02:12] Okay?
[00:02:13] But that's not many people are here today.
[00:02:16] If you use a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi or it might be something else.
[00:02:22] But it needs to be the straight side.
[00:02:24] I need a nice straight one.
[00:02:27] Okay?
[00:02:28] So if you can gather up those some for me, I'd appreciate it.
[00:02:31] Thank you.
[00:02:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:02:32] And if you don't bring soda, pastor, we have to take the full bottle and help empty it for you.
[00:02:49] You know, and what happens if I beat you? Yes, I know it's a lot of work. I know there's a lot that goes into it.
[00:02:54] But folks, honestly, we're planting trees that will never enjoy the shade of.
[00:02:59] We have a future generation that we need to invest in. And if we're not going to do it, the world's going to do it for us.
[00:03:04] And that's a scary thought.
[00:03:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:07] She's a great kid, and she knows I'm sorry, young lady, and you get the first half of this, yes?
[00:03:28] She has graciously agreed to come and speak for us.
[00:03:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:39] It was awesome.
[00:03:40] So you're inviting me to this point.
[00:03:41] Very cool.
[00:03:42] Thank you for coming.
[00:03:42] I appreciate that.
[00:03:45] I'll be out for a couple days this week.
[00:03:48] I'm not going to the whole thing.
[00:03:49] There's a couple days I don't need to attend, but I'll be gone Thursday and Friday to conference.
[00:03:53] Is there anybody else going to conference?
[00:03:56] Are you all four days?
[00:04:00] Okay, then we can hang out.
[00:04:02] That's cool.
[00:04:03] I'm just going to hang out with her.
[00:04:04] That's awesome.
[00:04:05] So now there's a great pastor.
[00:04:06] But yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
[00:04:07] So if anybody else would like to come, hey, you're welcome to come too.
[00:04:11] And also, too, folks, I want to visit with you.
[00:04:14] I'm not the guy that's going to drop by your house.
[00:04:16] Because I know it's always a bad time to stop by.
[00:04:18] You're going to laundry, dinner, shower, something like that.
[00:04:21] So I don't want to do that.
[00:04:22] But hey, if you would come here maybe to the church, you would go out for coffee.
[00:04:27] Oh, go ahead, Molly.
[00:04:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:04:28] that just brings me to an announcement I have Jeremy's page for your directory it's got his contact info on it so please let me know if I haven't given you one yet I have them here
[00:04:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:04:37] please don't let the pictures scare you I was going to put a milk carton there but they wouldn't let me but anyway folks I'd love to visit and get to know you more if that's not your thing, that's cool, I understand
[00:04:48] but hey, we can meet at the church coffee shop anywhere you feel comfortable we can hang out and I'd love to do that So, I'd love to get to know you more.
[00:04:58] Can everybody hear me okay?
[00:05:00] That's your account on cloud, but everybody, you hear me good?
[00:05:03] Yes.
[00:05:03] Okay.
[00:05:04] All right, very good.
[00:05:05] Any other announcements we have?
[00:05:06] Very good.
[00:05:11] So, we'll go ahead and start with our...
[00:05:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:05:16] 881.
[00:11:00] And it's not because I don't remember it, because when I stand up here, I'm going to forget.
[00:11:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:11:16] If you know this, this is our season this week to be down here.
[00:12:32] And so, my wife says, okay, we can't do the praise songs that we had normally done.
[00:12:37] We don't have a suggestion and stuff like that.
[00:12:40] So she's like, what's him be wanted?
[00:12:45] My favorite hymn.
[00:12:46] So it's hymn number 369 in your hymnal, and you'll have to share around with that, please.
[00:12:51] 369, Bless and Assurance, Jesus is Mine.
[00:12:54] If you'd like to see it, feel free.
[00:12:56] If you'd like this stage or that, you're welcome to do that as well.
[00:12:59] Bless and Assurance, Jesus is Mine.
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:13:01] I'm all messed up and I see you at Gaston Memorial.
[00:17:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:25] Charlie.
[00:17:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:17:26] I understand.
[00:18:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:39] Still pushing for the feeding tube to be raised.
[00:18:49] all together, he's doing good, but he still
[00:18:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:18:53] can't eat without aspirin.
[00:19:49] Thank you all for that. Thank you all for being accommodating for coming down here.
[00:19:54] Anybody else?
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:19:55] The friendliest church.
[00:19:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:19:59] I have 910,000 to agree with that, absolutely.
[00:20:05] Adelaide coming to the food line here, they say, I'm going to church because people are mean to us.
[00:20:08] You've never been to my church.
[00:20:11] Never been to my church.
[00:20:13] We're going to walk along and feed you and we're going to check on you as you leave.
[00:20:17] That's great.
[00:20:18] that's a great feeling I know when I came here as a pastor you didn't know I was a pastor you know or even interviewing you folks hey who are you my name's it was a great place to be
[00:20:26] I love it so thank you anything else we can we can offer to the praise or for prayers today alright if you'd join me in prayer let us pray Lord Jesus we are just so thankful
[00:20:39] Lord we come to your gates with great thanksgiving Lord thank you for all that you provide for us all the blessings you bestow upon us thank you for being our God and letting us be your people
[00:20:50] Lord, we just come before you today for all those sicknesses, Lord.
[00:20:53] We just ask you to lay your hands on those folks, to heal them, touch them.
[00:20:57] Remind them that you are with them.
[00:20:59] Lord, help us as a body to encourage them for these families that are struggling through just financial times.
[00:21:08] It's the times that things are happening in our world.
[00:21:10] Lord, we just ask you to let the church be a beacon of hope that they see the light and want to come to it.
[00:21:16] you, Lord. And Lord, help us just to, and this is what we're praying as we continue forward, going to the conference and going to the church business, that we continue to grow your kingdom, to see what you have
[00:21:28] for us, to be obedient to that, to be open to that.
[00:21:32] Lord, I ask you to bless the part of everyone here today. For those who couldn't make it today, Lord, I ask you to bless us well, in your great mighty name. Amen.
[00:21:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:21:48] Here's within my heart a melody. It's number 380380.
[00:21:52] Here's what's in my heart melody, we'll sing verses 1, 3, and 5.
[00:21:56] Verses 1, 3, and 5.
[00:21:58] You're welcome to stand again, or you're welcome to stay seated.
[00:22:00] There's what's in my heart melody.
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:22:05] ...shown around, and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, who are you persecuting?
[00:34:43] And he said, who are you?
[00:34:45] And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
[00:34:48] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
[00:34:52] So he trembling and astounded said, Lord, what do you want me to do?
[00:34:57] Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
[00:35:02] And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
[00:35:09] And Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one.
[00:35:14] But they led him by hand and brought him into Damascus.
[00:35:17] And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
[00:35:22] Now there was a certain disciple of the master's name, Ananias.
[00:35:25] And him to the Lord said in a vision, Ananias.
[00:35:28] And he said, Here I am, Lord.
[00:35:31] So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straith, and acquire the house of Judas, the one called Saul of Tarsus.
[00:35:39] For behold, he is praying.
[00:35:41] And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him, so that he might receive his sight.
[00:35:50] Then Ananias answered the Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
[00:35:57] And here he is the authority for the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.
[00:36:03] But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for
[00:36:14] my name's sake.
[00:36:15] and Ananias went his way and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me to you to receive your sight
[00:36:27] and be filled with the Holy Spirit immediately there was felt in his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized so when he received food he was strengthened
[00:36:40] and Saul spent some days with the disciples of Damascus The word of God for the people of God.
[00:36:47] Thanks be to God.
[00:36:49] So I thought before we started on Romans, we could talk about this Saul of Tarsus, who later on became Paul.
[00:36:55] He wrote pretty much a quarter of the New Testament.
[00:36:59] And one thing before I do that, I talked to a fellow a little while back.
[00:37:03] He said, you know what, Pastor?
[00:37:04] We have the New Testament.
[00:37:06] We don't need the Old Testament.
[00:37:07] That's us moving through it.
[00:37:08] We don't need it anymore because we just have the New.
[00:37:11] Folks, I'm here to tell you, if you don't read and understand the Old Testament, you entirely miss the flavors of the New Testament.
[00:37:20] Because the New Testament is littered with things from the Old Testament.
[00:37:23] And realize, the Old Testament, that was Jesus' Bible.
[00:37:27] That was the disciples' Bible.
[00:37:29] That's what they had.
[00:37:29] They had the Quran's talk, which was, you know, the Old Testament all through that.
[00:37:34] So folks, I want to encourage you, as you read the New Testament, please, read the Old Testament.
[00:37:39] It's going to put a lot of value.
[00:37:40] There's some dense stuff in there.
[00:37:43] It's one of the best novels you'll ever read.
[00:37:44] I mean, there's war, famines, affairs, there's everything there.
[00:37:50] Everything that breaks humanity in half is there, and how God brings it through.
[00:37:54] So I encourage you to read that.
[00:37:57] But to kind of get back to where we're at, who is Saul of Tarsus?
[00:38:01] Well, Saul is a Pharisee.
[00:38:04] He's an up-and-coming Pharisee.
[00:38:05] He's a unique Pharisee.
[00:38:07] Saul was a Roman citizen so he enjoyed all the rights of Roman citizenship because his dad was a Roman soldier he fought in many Roman campaigns so he earned his family's citizenship so Paul enjoyed having a unique position
[00:38:26] he was a Roman citizen and also he was an up-and-coming Pharisee he was a Pharisee of Pharisees he studied under the best teachers the best rabbis.
[00:38:38] He knew his scriptures.
[00:38:40] He was truly a man that was after God's heart.
[00:38:43] He wanted to understand and know God.
[00:38:45] I mean, he kept his fast.
[00:38:47] He tithed.
[00:38:49] He did everything that he was supposed to.
[00:38:50] He was a sinner, absolutely.
[00:38:52] But here's the thing with Saul.
[00:38:53] Saul was caught up in pharisaical religiosity.
[00:38:59] What does that mean?
[00:39:01] So what pharisaical, really it's kind of their theology.
[00:39:06] If you were a Pharisee, they had the Old Testament and they put 10,000 laws
[00:39:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:11] on top of it. If everybody would just be good, if everybody would just be good, the Messiah would come.
[00:39:19] Just be good and everything would be okay.
[00:39:23] Well, that's
[00:39:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:39:24] the Messiah that came was not the Messiah they envisioned.
[00:39:28] They rejected Jesus and called him a heretic.
[00:39:30] They actually claimed he was the Son of God.
[00:39:32] They claimed to forgive sins.
[00:39:34] And why do we think the reason they rejected him was, well, first of all, about religiosity. Hey, look at us.
[00:39:40] We've arrived. Those are bad people out there, and there's good people here.
[00:39:44] And Jesus, you should see that.
[00:39:46] And secondly, what would they expect?
[00:39:49] Yes, a Ben-Hur Jesus. You're a soft Ben-Hur. You know, this big, strong Jesus was going to come, and he was going to kick those evil Romans down the road, and he was going to restore Israel to what should be a beacon
[00:40:00] of light for the world.
[00:40:02] Her granaries full, wealthy, powerful, but did that happened. The Messiah that came was different. So that's why they rejected him. He was like, he just doesn't get it. He's not us.
[00:40:19] What the Pharisees did.
[00:40:21] Sanhedrin was the same way.
[00:40:23] They kind of battled each other until he became more religious.
[00:40:27] So you know this guy, he's pretty religious.
[00:40:30] And he goes through and follows his thought process. Saul says, you know what, I'm going to destroy these people the way they're blasphemers.
[00:40:38] They're following that heretic.
[00:40:40] They thought Jesus' name would be gone a few weeks after he had died.
[00:40:44] People, I mean, Jesus spread throughout the empire, folks.
[00:40:48] It was a perfect time. Roman roads went everywhere.
[00:40:51] Roman soldiers were talking about this Jesus that they killed that came back.
[00:40:56] They talked about how he raised the dead and how he healed people. The slaves in the marketplace, slaves went everywhere.
[00:41:03] Slaves were talking about Jesus.
[00:41:06] And the Jewish people were talking about Jesus. They didn't see a heretic.
[00:41:11] This made religious people very uneasy.
[00:41:14] Because a lot of their religion was controlled.
[00:41:19] So we have Saul going through his parishes.
[00:41:21] You know what?
[00:41:21] I'm going to go through, and I'm going to destroy that way.
[00:41:25] You know, it's going to raise my rank as a Pharisee.
[00:41:29] I'm going to go through, and I'm going to do God's work.
[00:41:33] So he goes, and we begin right in verse 1 of chapter 9 here.
[00:41:36] It says he goes and asks for letters from the synagogues to go and round these people up.
[00:41:42] If you read the Greek, it actually says that Saul breathed fire against the church.
[00:41:47] He hated the church.
[00:41:49] He hated Christ.
[00:41:51] He was going to destroy this.
[00:41:53] And he did.
[00:41:54] He went to many other places and did awful things.
[00:41:56] And the reason he needed these letters from the synagogue from the high priest was, as he went to Damascus, he was out of his jurisdiction.
[00:42:03] It's like a policeman.
[00:42:04] Inside of Israel, they could go through and do their thing.
[00:42:07] But when he left it outside, he needed these letters from the other synagogues.
[00:42:11] He was going to try to stop them first and say, hey, what's going on here?
[00:42:14] he would actually have to have permission to bring these folks back to chains to stand trial and honestly they were going to kill them because they were heretics they were going against Terah they were going against God
[00:42:24] they were just awful people so we have Paul goes and he sets out his road to Damascus he takes men with him money and he's got quite a horde that's going to go out and destroy this land
[00:42:36] so as he goes out and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul
[00:42:51] why are you persecuting me?
[00:42:56] So this guy literally he's pumped up, he's ready to go he's going to do God's work and literally sees this flash of light that knocks him off his horse stretch and he says he face plants
[00:43:08] right in the ground.
[00:43:13] Why is that significant?
[00:43:16] Well here's where the Old Testament stuff comes in now.
[00:43:19] This has happened twice in the Old Testament.
[00:43:22] First of all, Daniel, we're praying, after coming out of the lion's den, saw a great light, and he fell to the ground, and Jesus visited him in the Old Testament.
[00:43:31] This flash of light came, and he fell to the face of the face of the planet.
[00:43:34] He went down and fell on his face.
[00:43:37] And also we see in Ezekiel, as Ezekiel was praying near the river, I forget which river, forgive me, but as he was praying, a great light shone, and he was given instruction.
[00:43:47] Again, he fell on his face.
[00:43:50] So we have this tough guy, Paul, honestly, we just go to do Saul, we can call him Paul.
[00:43:54] With this tough guy, Saul, he's going to arrest these folks.
[00:43:57] He's going to do God's work.
[00:43:58] He's going to arrest all these folks.
[00:44:00] He's going to raise his level of who he is.
[00:44:03] He comes across a bright light that literally knocks him off his horse and humbles him.
[00:44:09] Now, the other man with him did not see the bright light, but they heard the voice.
[00:44:13] Because the bright light was for Saul.
[00:44:18] So he knocked him off his horse.
[00:44:19] He's humbled.
[00:44:20] I'm sure you've heard but you're a whole horse that's not pleasant he's laying there and then he hears his voice again it's a powerful voice from heaven and there's some great literature it goes through and says
[00:44:34] it says Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?
[00:44:40] but I want you to hear how Paul responds how does Paul respond?
[00:44:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:44:46] he said who are you Lord?
[00:44:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:44:52] that's an interesting response.
[00:44:56] Who are you, Lord?
[00:45:00] So he recognizes this is not just a flash of light from somewhere.
[00:45:03] This is a thing from God. And believe me, Saul knows about the light that hit Ezekiel. He knows about the light that hit Daniel.
[00:45:11] And I'm sure he's probably, I mean, there's probably a million things going through his head real quick.
[00:45:15] God's going to give me instruction.
[00:45:18] Is this God or is this an angel?
[00:45:19] Or what is this?
[00:45:22] I'm going to get instruction from God.
[00:45:24] And yes, Lord, who are you?
[00:45:28] And the response comes out, I can imagine Paul's face.
[00:45:30] I can imagine what's going through his mind when he says, I am Jesus, the one who can persecute.
[00:45:37] I can imagine the look on Saul's face, the look of horror, the horror going through his mind, what have I done?
[00:45:48] See, in his religiosity, in his supposed obedience, he wanted to do God's work, but he went his own way.
[00:45:56] He was working out of his own righteousness.
[00:45:59] You know, God, we see that today.
[00:46:01] And I sit here with Christians, and it's sad because I've done it myself.
[00:46:05] I'll raise my hand.
[00:46:06] We pick up a sword that's not ours to sling, and we cut people down because of our religious, you know, religiosity.
[00:46:11] And we go through and say, look, Lord, we smithed them in your name.
[00:46:15] Look at the mess that I made for you.
[00:46:17] And honestly, did we accomplish anything?
[00:46:21] No, I was enacting my own righteousness, my own supposed obedience to God, and really, honestly, I made more mess than I destroyed somebody versus giving them the love of Christ and going through and meeting what God's called to be,
[00:46:34] to be some light.
[00:46:35] He didn't call me to be a sword bearer.
[00:46:40] So we see where Saul's at.
[00:46:44] So Saul immediately, I think, recognized what he did.
[00:46:47] He's obedient.
[00:46:48] And he goes through and said, Lord, what must I do?
[00:46:52] What must I do?
[00:46:56] And the men in the journey with him were thinking, like, what's this guy, who's he talking to?
[00:47:01] What happened to him?
[00:47:02] Did he hit his head too hard?
[00:47:06] But they get him up, and the Lord tells them to go to one of the cities.
[00:47:12] And I'm one of these guys, I love to read for scripture, and I like to look at what the church father said, some of the reformers.
[00:47:19] And I love Charles Spurgeon.
[00:47:21] And Spurgeon made a huge point about what happened here, and about what's to happen with Saul of Parsis.
[00:47:28] And he said, you know, Saul got off from the ground.
[00:47:32] Though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing.
[00:47:37] So they took him into the city by hand and led him to Damascus.
[00:47:42] So the proud persecutor who was going to Damascus as a conqueror to crush the saints of God himself was led into the city as a captive to be forever and afterward a slave to Jesus Christ.
[00:48:01] And when we call it a slave, I see something I'm not talking about an American slave.
[00:48:04] I'm talking about the slavery as a fact is we're all called to be slaves to Christ.
[00:48:08] The word's doulos.
[00:48:09] it's called to be servants to obey one master and work for one master so we see an obedient Saul go through and say yes Lord I'm sure like I said heard, horrified, not sure where he's at
[00:48:22] in his mind lost and he's taken into the city and you know his eyes are open he's blinded so they let him there and we kind of like take a look at him or he's just there
[00:48:40] of praying. He's not eating, he's drinking, he's fasting.
[00:48:44] Paul's following him to what he knows to do, is to fast.
[00:48:47] To pray.
[00:48:50] And I'm sure at that point he's not sure what to pray for.
[00:48:57] But he's praying that I'm sure God's forgiven us.
[00:49:00] What's next?
[00:49:02] Could you imagine the horror of what you've done to people who may be coming back to make you a repercussion?
[00:49:08] You realize Saul's murdered people.
[00:49:10] He's dropped new chains. He's beat them.
[00:49:11] He's hurt them. He's tore families apart.
[00:49:17] And I'm sure why he's wondering, is this going to happen to me. Probably thinking I deserve it. So we see an obedience there that's a bad obedience. It's kind of his own obedience to what he thought God wanted.
[00:49:32] Not truly what God wanted. He's his own will versus God's will.
[00:49:37] So we kind of flip the script here a little bit.
[00:49:38] We come to this guy named Ananias.
[00:49:41] Ananias is faithful. He's many disciples.
[00:49:46] It says he's a disciple.
[00:49:48] And the Lord comes to him in a vision that says Ananias, he's He's like, here I am, Lord.
[00:49:54] So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus.
[00:50:01] For behold, he is praying.
[00:50:03] And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him so that he might receive his sight.
[00:50:12] And Ananias says, Lord, I've heard from many people about this man.
[00:50:15] He's got a quarry for the chief priests.
[00:50:17] He beats us. He murders us.
[00:50:19] Well, why?
[00:50:20] Why would we do this?
[00:50:23] Folks, put yourself in Ananias' shoes.
[00:50:26] I mean, struggle in the middle of your church.
[00:50:29] Imagine someone that maybe treats you poorly in your eyes still, and they've found they're blind and it scales in their eyes.
[00:50:34] Would it be difficult to go and lay your hands on them and do what the Lord called and asked you to do?
[00:50:41] I think it would be difficult.
[00:50:42] It would be.
[00:50:42] I mean, most people are like, really, do I have to?
[00:50:46] I know as Christians, you know, we want to do this, but it's still a struggle, isn't it?
[00:50:50] A struggle sometimes would be a beauty.
[00:50:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:50:54] Because God calls to things sometimes we don't want to do.
[00:50:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:50:56] or we're scared to do or afraid to do.
[00:51:02] But Ananias listens here.
[00:51:05] The Lord says, I'm sending you to pretty much heal his eyes and to go through and to make him see what I want him to see.
[00:51:21] So we go through and we see Ananias go, he's faithful.
[00:51:26] And he says, the reason I'm going there, and he goes to Ananias and says, the reason, go for he is my chosen vessel of mine to bear name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel.
[00:51:37] For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.
[00:51:45] Just a side note here.
[00:51:47] Imagine somebody that's got a bad kind of history like Saul.
[00:51:54] His life is not easy.
[00:51:57] He would have to scale stuff in his eyes. I've recently talked with the disciples. Even as he went through and God redeemed him as he went to people, he was still judged for what he had done.
[00:52:08] His life was not going to be easy.
[00:52:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:52:09] Walking, hey, I saw Paul now.
[00:52:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:52:11] Everything's going to be good.
[00:52:12] People called him a liar.
[00:52:13] I'm sure they went past him.
[00:52:14] Didn't want to hear what he had to say.
[00:52:18] Treated him poorly.
[00:52:23] But Christ was putting around for him.
[00:52:24] He's going to suffer for my name.
[00:52:26] Folks, rejoice in your sufferings.
[00:52:30] Suffering's not a bad thing.
[00:52:31] If we're not suffering in Christians, there's something wrong.
[00:52:33] I honestly believe that.
[00:52:34] I'm very orthodox in that.
[00:52:36] If there's not something going wrong, things are too good.
[00:52:40] That's my opinion.
[00:52:41] I'm a little orthodox in that.
[00:52:43] They've got to look at it that way.
[00:52:44] I mean, if we're not having age pains, things like that, things that wouldn't draw us to Christ.
[00:52:49] We'd have bad times.
[00:52:52] Now, that sounds awful, and it sort of looks like some perplexed looks, but honestly, suffering's not a bad thing.
[00:52:57] It draws us closer to Christ.
[00:52:58] It's not pleasant.
[00:53:00] It was never meant to be.
[00:53:02] Folks, I don't know anything about you, but I'm willing to suffer here for an eternal reward with the enemy.
[00:53:07] I'm willing.
[00:53:09] And what that suffering may look like, I have friends that suffer across the world.
[00:53:17] You know, we have a couple of people who jump up and down all the time and we don't like Christians and they want to cry a little bit.
[00:53:21] But you don't walk out of here worried about murdering you or killing your family or going to this church service and going to work and things.
[00:53:29] You know, our brothers and sisters, they've been through a lot more in the world.
[00:53:31] And you know what? My brother-in-law's from Nigeria and he tells me, you know, they'll walk 10 miles to church.
[00:53:37] The threat along the way is scary. They could be murdered, kidnapped, taken.
[00:53:44] But they're excited to get to church.
[00:53:46] They're excited to come worship him.
[00:53:49] The road doesn't matter.
[00:53:53] Folks, Paul's going to suffer in the future, but Ananias is going to suffer because he's going to go and he's going to touch this guy, but he's faithful.
[00:54:02] He's obedient.
[00:54:03] So Ananias went his way and he entered the house and he laid his hands and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight
[00:54:14] and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:54:26] Would you imagine?
[00:54:32] Wesley called this conversion pangs of the new birth.
[00:54:40] And what he meant by that was, you know, he had to go through and him being a persecutor was no accident.
[00:54:47] Him being on this journey was no accident.
[00:54:52] God brings us through horrific things to bring us to good things.
[00:54:58] Folks, I've seen the dead come back to life like we have here.
[00:55:02] Saul comes back to life.
[00:55:04] He was dead in his religiousness.
[00:55:06] He was dead in his unrighteousness.
[00:55:09] He was dead.
[00:55:10] He understood the scriptures only to an extent of what he saw in them, not what God had put in them.
[00:55:16] Because if he was truly into the scriptures as much as Paul said he was, he would have recognized Jesus Christ.
[00:55:23] He would have followed Jesus Christ.
[00:55:25] But he went his own way.
[00:55:26] He went the way of the Pharisees.
[00:55:29] But God went through and had a purpose for his life to bring around through an obedience that was obedient to Him.
[00:55:37] I hope you see that in that.
[00:55:40] There's good and bad obedience.
[00:55:43] There's good and bad righteousness.
[00:55:45] My righteousness stinks. You don't want mine.
[00:55:48] But Jesus says we want His righteousness. We want obedience to the one that brings life, not death.
[00:55:57] And you see in this, folks, I'm going to encourage you to read on.
[00:56:00] Go to the Sermon on the Rock this week.
[00:56:02] Read in the Hebrews.
[00:56:03] Check out these different books that Paul wrote when he became Paul.
[00:56:08] of Tarsus, and see a transformed man.
[00:56:13] Folks, I'm going to encourage you to go in and read Peter and the Gospels and read his letter. Those are two different guys. We see
[00:56:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:56:24] this guy has cut some dude's ear off.
[00:56:27] Defends Jesus with a sword.
[00:56:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:56:29] And then we go through and read that this man is going through and loves Christ to the point where he's running to the exiles that are scattered throughout the empire because they are suffering.
[00:56:41] Honor the emperor.
[00:56:43] Love your neighbor.
[00:56:45] Be salt like.
[00:56:46] Folks, this stuff in this book matters.
[00:56:48] This isn't just who we've been reading here for good reading.
[00:56:52] This is not just instruction.
[00:56:53] It's a call to obedience to Christ.
[00:56:55] Call for a transformation.
[00:56:57] Wesley, you've heard me say this a bajillion times.
[00:56:59] New birth.
[00:57:01] Resurrection.
[00:57:02] New life.
[00:57:05] This is Saul's new life.
[00:57:10] And folks, I've said, I mean, if you're going to chance, go celebrate recovery week.
[00:57:13] I wasn't going to recover from anything, but I went and I saw the dead coming back to life.
[00:57:17] I've met people caught in drugs and alcohol and things and people that say we don't want to be that guy now he's transformed because he went through what Saul went through he was blind now he sees
[00:57:31] and God sends him back to the fire to get their folks out so I'm excited next week to go with you to Romans Romans is an amazing book it's a heavy book we're going to go through and look at it
[00:57:48] I'm going to ruffle some feathers with Romans it's okay God's word is God's word.
[00:57:55] It's not a buffet.
[00:57:57] I don't want the doctor to tell me the truth.
[00:57:59] Jeremy, you're fat, you eat too many Doritos, and you didn't go on a diet.
[00:58:03] I don't want the doctor to say, hey, you look great.
[00:58:05] Just keep doing what you're doing.
[00:58:07] You'll be dead in five years, but hey, you're fine.
[00:58:11] You'll look good in the castle.
[00:58:12] We'll pull you in.
[00:58:14] That's not what I want.
[00:58:17] I want to know the truth.
[00:58:19] Folks, like the promise says, you're passionate.
[00:58:20] I'll never lie to you.
[00:58:21] I'm not going to pull the wool over your eyes.
[00:58:22] I'm going to tell you the truth.
[00:58:23] If you get mad at me, you have to talk to management.
[00:58:27] You know, I preach his word.
[00:58:29] But folks, I just want you to see this.
[00:58:31] And then chew on this this week.
[00:58:34] Chew on this.
[00:58:36] What does our obedience look like?
[00:58:40] Do I even know what obedience is?
[00:58:43] Am I hearing Christ's call in my life?
[00:58:45] What is this call in my life?
[00:58:48] And I'm going to ask you to pray for our church as Christ God does.
[00:58:51] Who are we called to minister to?
[00:58:53] There's a big community out there.
[00:58:57] Who are we called to?
[00:59:02] Well, it's not like that.
[00:59:03] Let us pray.
[00:59:03] Let's say the Lord's Prayer together.
[00:59:08] Start us off.
[00:59:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:59:09] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:59:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:59:58] 399.
[01:00:00] Take my life and let it be.
[01:00:03] We'll sing the first and last verse.
[01:00:05] First and last verse.
[01:00:06] Take my life and let it be.
[01:00:07] 399.
[01:00:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:00:12] Grace be upon you from the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Father.
[01:02:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:02:17] Go in peace and have a very great blessed day.
[00:00:00] Well, thank you for having us this morning. It's a little cooler down here. I appreciate you all coming to the pastorate because I'm going to be melting upstairs. So there will be a puddle where I was probably at. So, all right, let's get started with announcements. We've got some really cool stuff coming up here.
[00:00:21] and Wednesday night dinners, folks.
[00:00:24] Who all comes to those?
[00:00:27] All right.
[00:00:28] Hey, I encourage you to come.
[00:00:30] It's a good time of fellowship.
[00:00:31] And something I'm going to encourage you to do is start from this week going forward.
[00:00:36] Bring a friend.
[00:00:38] That's the greatest way to get folks to come to church.
[00:00:40] Invite them.
[00:00:42] I read a statistic the other day.
[00:00:43] Do you know how many people have stopped going to church?
[00:00:47] Exactly.
[00:00:48] They move.
[00:00:50] When they used to go to church, they went to a new place.
[00:00:52] They don't know anybody.
[00:00:53] And now it's kind of awkward, like, well, you know, where did I go?
[00:00:58] So, hey, we're at a girls' quarter.
[00:01:00] Buy the cashier when you're out talking to somebody at Bump-In, too.
[00:01:03] Buy it for church.
[00:01:04] Buy it for friends.
[00:01:05] I'd love to see your grandkids.
[00:01:06] Your grandchild.
[00:01:08] Show them what we're going to bring up.
[00:01:10] So I'd just like to say we're away for a good night dinner.
[00:01:14] So we have a choir party at 630 afterwards.
[00:01:20] Meetings for committee members are on the back as well.
[00:01:22] And BBS folks, who's excited about BBS?
[00:01:33] That's going to be July 11th.
[00:01:40] That's going to be July 22nd.
[00:01:44] 538.
[00:01:45] If you can come and help a lot of kids.
[00:01:47] The kids aren't a good thing if you can help them.
[00:01:50] You can help decorate.
[00:01:52] Help shop for the park.
[00:01:53] Whatever you can do, that would be great.
[00:01:55] Can I say something?
[00:01:56] Yeah.
[00:01:57] You still need help.
[00:01:59] But I need help.
[00:02:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:02:00] Oh, I'm the grass guy.
[00:02:02] If you drink or use 2-liter soap bottles, I need the ones with straight sides.
[00:02:10] I need 50 of them.
[00:02:12] Okay?
[00:02:13] But that's not many people are here today.
[00:02:16] If you use a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi or it might be something else.
[00:02:22] But it needs to be the straight side.
[00:02:24] I need a nice straight one.
[00:02:27] Okay?
[00:02:28] So if you can gather up those some for me, I'd appreciate it.
[00:02:31] Thank you.
[00:02:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:02:32] And if you don't bring soda, pastor, we have to take the full bottle and help empty it for you.
[00:02:49] You know, and what happens if I beat you? Yes, I know it's a lot of work. I know there's a lot that goes into it.
[00:02:54] But folks, honestly, we're planting trees that will never enjoy the shade of.
[00:02:59] We have a future generation that we need to invest in. And if we're not going to do it, the world's going to do it for us.
[00:03:04] And that's a scary thought.
[00:03:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:07] She's a great kid, and she knows I'm sorry, young lady, and you get the first half of this, yes?
[00:03:28] She has graciously agreed to come and speak for us.
[00:03:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:39] It was awesome.
[00:03:40] So you're inviting me to this point.
[00:03:41] Very cool.
[00:03:42] Thank you for coming.
[00:03:42] I appreciate that.
[00:03:45] I'll be out for a couple days this week.
[00:03:48] I'm not going to the whole thing.
[00:03:49] There's a couple days I don't need to attend, but I'll be gone Thursday and Friday to conference.
[00:03:53] Is there anybody else going to conference?
[00:03:56] Are you all four days?
[00:04:00] Okay, then we can hang out.
[00:04:02] That's cool.
[00:04:03] I'm just going to hang out with her.
[00:04:04] That's awesome.
[00:04:05] So now there's a great pastor.
[00:04:06] But yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
[00:04:07] So if anybody else would like to come, hey, you're welcome to come too.
[00:04:11] And also, too, folks, I want to visit with you.
[00:04:14] I'm not the guy that's going to drop by your house.
[00:04:16] Because I know it's always a bad time to stop by.
[00:04:18] You're going to laundry, dinner, shower, something like that.
[00:04:21] So I don't want to do that.
[00:04:22] But hey, if you would come here maybe to the church, you would go out for coffee.
[00:04:27] Oh, go ahead, Molly.
[00:04:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:04:28] that just brings me to an announcement I have Jeremy's page for your directory it's got his contact info on it so please let me know if I haven't given you one yet I have them here
[00:04:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:04:37] please don't let the pictures scare you I was going to put a milk carton there but they wouldn't let me but anyway folks I'd love to visit and get to know you more if that's not your thing, that's cool, I understand
[00:04:48] but hey, we can meet at the church coffee shop anywhere you feel comfortable we can hang out and I'd love to do that So, I'd love to get to know you more.
[00:04:58] Can everybody hear me okay?
[00:05:00] That's your account on cloud, but everybody, you hear me good?
[00:05:03] Yes.
[00:05:03] Okay.
[00:05:04] All right, very good.
[00:05:05] Any other announcements we have?
[00:05:06] Very good.
[00:05:11] So, we'll go ahead and start with our...
[00:05:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:05:16] 881.
[00:11:00] And it's not because I don't remember it, because when I stand up here, I'm going to forget.
[00:11:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:11:16] If you know this, this is our season this week to be down here.
[00:12:32] And so, my wife says, okay, we can't do the praise songs that we had normally done.
[00:12:37] We don't have a suggestion and stuff like that.
[00:12:40] So she's like, what's him be wanted?
[00:12:45] My favorite hymn.
[00:12:46] So it's hymn number 369 in your hymnal, and you'll have to share around with that, please.
[00:12:51] 369, Bless and Assurance, Jesus is Mine.
[00:12:54] If you'd like to see it, feel free.
[00:12:56] If you'd like this stage or that, you're welcome to do that as well.
[00:12:59] Bless and Assurance, Jesus is Mine.
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:13:01] I'm all messed up and I see you at Gaston Memorial.
[00:17:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:25] Charlie.
[00:17:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:17:26] I understand.
[00:18:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:39] Still pushing for the feeding tube to be raised.
[00:18:49] all together, he's doing good, but he still
[00:18:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:18:53] can't eat without aspirin.
[00:19:49] Thank you all for that. Thank you all for being accommodating for coming down here.
[00:19:54] Anybody else?
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:19:55] The friendliest church.
[00:19:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:19:59] I have 910,000 to agree with that, absolutely.
[00:20:05] Adelaide coming to the food line here, they say, I'm going to church because people are mean to us.
[00:20:08] You've never been to my church.
[00:20:11] Never been to my church.
[00:20:13] We're going to walk along and feed you and we're going to check on you as you leave.
[00:20:17] That's great.
[00:20:18] that's a great feeling I know when I came here as a pastor you didn't know I was a pastor you know or even interviewing you folks hey who are you my name's it was a great place to be
[00:20:26] I love it so thank you anything else we can we can offer to the praise or for prayers today alright if you'd join me in prayer let us pray Lord Jesus we are just so thankful
[00:20:39] Lord we come to your gates with great thanksgiving Lord thank you for all that you provide for us all the blessings you bestow upon us thank you for being our God and letting us be your people
[00:20:50] Lord, we just come before you today for all those sicknesses, Lord.
[00:20:53] We just ask you to lay your hands on those folks, to heal them, touch them.
[00:20:57] Remind them that you are with them.
[00:20:59] Lord, help us as a body to encourage them for these families that are struggling through just financial times.
[00:21:08] It's the times that things are happening in our world.
[00:21:10] Lord, we just ask you to let the church be a beacon of hope that they see the light and want to come to it.
[00:21:16] you, Lord. And Lord, help us just to, and this is what we're praying as we continue forward, going to the conference and going to the church business, that we continue to grow your kingdom, to see what you have
[00:21:28] for us, to be obedient to that, to be open to that.
[00:21:32] Lord, I ask you to bless the part of everyone here today. For those who couldn't make it today, Lord, I ask you to bless us well, in your great mighty name. Amen.
[00:21:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:21:48] Here's within my heart a melody. It's number 380380.
[00:21:52] Here's what's in my heart melody, we'll sing verses 1, 3, and 5.
[00:21:56] Verses 1, 3, and 5.
[00:21:58] You're welcome to stand again, or you're welcome to stay seated.
[00:22:00] There's what's in my heart melody.
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:22:05] ...shown around, and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, who are you persecuting?
[00:34:43] And he said, who are you?
[00:34:45] And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
[00:34:48] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
[00:34:52] So he trembling and astounded said, Lord, what do you want me to do?
[00:34:57] Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
[00:35:02] And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
[00:35:09] And Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one.
[00:35:14] But they led him by hand and brought him into Damascus.
[00:35:17] And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
[00:35:22] Now there was a certain disciple of the master's name, Ananias.
[00:35:25] And him to the Lord said in a vision, Ananias.
[00:35:28] And he said, Here I am, Lord.
[00:35:31] So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straith, and acquire the house of Judas, the one called Saul of Tarsus.
[00:35:39] For behold, he is praying.
[00:35:41] And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him, so that he might receive his sight.
[00:35:50] Then Ananias answered the Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
[00:35:57] And here he is the authority for the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.
[00:36:03] But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for
[00:36:14] my name's sake.
[00:36:15] and Ananias went his way and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me to you to receive your sight
[00:36:27] and be filled with the Holy Spirit immediately there was felt in his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized so when he received food he was strengthened
[00:36:40] and Saul spent some days with the disciples of Damascus The word of God for the people of God.
[00:36:47] Thanks be to God.
[00:36:49] So I thought before we started on Romans, we could talk about this Saul of Tarsus, who later on became Paul.
[00:36:55] He wrote pretty much a quarter of the New Testament.
[00:36:59] And one thing before I do that, I talked to a fellow a little while back.
[00:37:03] He said, you know what, Pastor?
[00:37:04] We have the New Testament.
[00:37:06] We don't need the Old Testament.
[00:37:07] That's us moving through it.
[00:37:08] We don't need it anymore because we just have the New.
[00:37:11] Folks, I'm here to tell you, if you don't read and understand the Old Testament, you entirely miss the flavors of the New Testament.
[00:37:20] Because the New Testament is littered with things from the Old Testament.
[00:37:23] And realize, the Old Testament, that was Jesus' Bible.
[00:37:27] That was the disciples' Bible.
[00:37:29] That's what they had.
[00:37:29] They had the Quran's talk, which was, you know, the Old Testament all through that.
[00:37:34] So folks, I want to encourage you, as you read the New Testament, please, read the Old Testament.
[00:37:39] It's going to put a lot of value.
[00:37:40] There's some dense stuff in there.
[00:37:43] It's one of the best novels you'll ever read.
[00:37:44] I mean, there's war, famines, affairs, there's everything there.
[00:37:50] Everything that breaks humanity in half is there, and how God brings it through.
[00:37:54] So I encourage you to read that.
[00:37:57] But to kind of get back to where we're at, who is Saul of Tarsus?
[00:38:01] Well, Saul is a Pharisee.
[00:38:04] He's an up-and-coming Pharisee.
[00:38:05] He's a unique Pharisee.
[00:38:07] Saul was a Roman citizen so he enjoyed all the rights of Roman citizenship because his dad was a Roman soldier he fought in many Roman campaigns so he earned his family's citizenship so Paul enjoyed having a unique position
[00:38:26] he was a Roman citizen and also he was an up-and-coming Pharisee he was a Pharisee of Pharisees he studied under the best teachers the best rabbis.
[00:38:38] He knew his scriptures.
[00:38:40] He was truly a man that was after God's heart.
[00:38:43] He wanted to understand and know God.
[00:38:45] I mean, he kept his fast.
[00:38:47] He tithed.
[00:38:49] He did everything that he was supposed to.
[00:38:50] He was a sinner, absolutely.
[00:38:52] But here's the thing with Saul.
[00:38:53] Saul was caught up in pharisaical religiosity.
[00:38:59] What does that mean?
[00:39:01] So what pharisaical, really it's kind of their theology.
[00:39:06] If you were a Pharisee, they had the Old Testament and they put 10,000 laws
[00:39:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:11] on top of it. If everybody would just be good, if everybody would just be good, the Messiah would come.
[00:39:19] Just be good and everything would be okay.
[00:39:23] Well, that's
[00:39:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:39:24] the Messiah that came was not the Messiah they envisioned.
[00:39:28] They rejected Jesus and called him a heretic.
[00:39:30] They actually claimed he was the Son of God.
[00:39:32] They claimed to forgive sins.
[00:39:34] And why do we think the reason they rejected him was, well, first of all, about religiosity. Hey, look at us.
[00:39:40] We've arrived. Those are bad people out there, and there's good people here.
[00:39:44] And Jesus, you should see that.
[00:39:46] And secondly, what would they expect?
[00:39:49] Yes, a Ben-Hur Jesus. You're a soft Ben-Hur. You know, this big, strong Jesus was going to come, and he was going to kick those evil Romans down the road, and he was going to restore Israel to what should be a beacon
[00:40:00] of light for the world.
[00:40:02] Her granaries full, wealthy, powerful, but did that happened. The Messiah that came was different. So that's why they rejected him. He was like, he just doesn't get it. He's not us.
[00:40:19] What the Pharisees did.
[00:40:21] Sanhedrin was the same way.
[00:40:23] They kind of battled each other until he became more religious.
[00:40:27] So you know this guy, he's pretty religious.
[00:40:30] And he goes through and follows his thought process. Saul says, you know what, I'm going to destroy these people the way they're blasphemers.
[00:40:38] They're following that heretic.
[00:40:40] They thought Jesus' name would be gone a few weeks after he had died.
[00:40:44] People, I mean, Jesus spread throughout the empire, folks.
[00:40:48] It was a perfect time. Roman roads went everywhere.
[00:40:51] Roman soldiers were talking about this Jesus that they killed that came back.
[00:40:56] They talked about how he raised the dead and how he healed people. The slaves in the marketplace, slaves went everywhere.
[00:41:03] Slaves were talking about Jesus.
[00:41:06] And the Jewish people were talking about Jesus. They didn't see a heretic.
[00:41:11] This made religious people very uneasy.
[00:41:14] Because a lot of their religion was controlled.
[00:41:19] So we have Saul going through his parishes.
[00:41:21] You know what?
[00:41:21] I'm going to go through, and I'm going to destroy that way.
[00:41:25] You know, it's going to raise my rank as a Pharisee.
[00:41:29] I'm going to go through, and I'm going to do God's work.
[00:41:33] So he goes, and we begin right in verse 1 of chapter 9 here.
[00:41:36] It says he goes and asks for letters from the synagogues to go and round these people up.
[00:41:42] If you read the Greek, it actually says that Saul breathed fire against the church.
[00:41:47] He hated the church.
[00:41:49] He hated Christ.
[00:41:51] He was going to destroy this.
[00:41:53] And he did.
[00:41:54] He went to many other places and did awful things.
[00:41:56] And the reason he needed these letters from the synagogue from the high priest was, as he went to Damascus, he was out of his jurisdiction.
[00:42:03] It's like a policeman.
[00:42:04] Inside of Israel, they could go through and do their thing.
[00:42:07] But when he left it outside, he needed these letters from the other synagogues.
[00:42:11] He was going to try to stop them first and say, hey, what's going on here?
[00:42:14] he would actually have to have permission to bring these folks back to chains to stand trial and honestly they were going to kill them because they were heretics they were going against Terah they were going against God
[00:42:24] they were just awful people so we have Paul goes and he sets out his road to Damascus he takes men with him money and he's got quite a horde that's going to go out and destroy this land
[00:42:36] so as he goes out and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul
[00:42:51] why are you persecuting me?
[00:42:56] So this guy literally he's pumped up, he's ready to go he's going to do God's work and literally sees this flash of light that knocks him off his horse stretch and he says he face plants
[00:43:08] right in the ground.
[00:43:13] Why is that significant?
[00:43:16] Well here's where the Old Testament stuff comes in now.
[00:43:19] This has happened twice in the Old Testament.
[00:43:22] First of all, Daniel, we're praying, after coming out of the lion's den, saw a great light, and he fell to the ground, and Jesus visited him in the Old Testament.
[00:43:31] This flash of light came, and he fell to the face of the face of the planet.
[00:43:34] He went down and fell on his face.
[00:43:37] And also we see in Ezekiel, as Ezekiel was praying near the river, I forget which river, forgive me, but as he was praying, a great light shone, and he was given instruction.
[00:43:47] Again, he fell on his face.
[00:43:50] So we have this tough guy, Paul, honestly, we just go to do Saul, we can call him Paul.
[00:43:54] With this tough guy, Saul, he's going to arrest these folks.
[00:43:57] He's going to do God's work.
[00:43:58] He's going to arrest all these folks.
[00:44:00] He's going to raise his level of who he is.
[00:44:03] He comes across a bright light that literally knocks him off his horse and humbles him.
[00:44:09] Now, the other man with him did not see the bright light, but they heard the voice.
[00:44:13] Because the bright light was for Saul.
[00:44:18] So he knocked him off his horse.
[00:44:19] He's humbled.
[00:44:20] I'm sure you've heard but you're a whole horse that's not pleasant he's laying there and then he hears his voice again it's a powerful voice from heaven and there's some great literature it goes through and says
[00:44:34] it says Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?
[00:44:40] but I want you to hear how Paul responds how does Paul respond?
[00:44:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:44:46] he said who are you Lord?
[00:44:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:44:52] that's an interesting response.
[00:44:56] Who are you, Lord?
[00:45:00] So he recognizes this is not just a flash of light from somewhere.
[00:45:03] This is a thing from God. And believe me, Saul knows about the light that hit Ezekiel. He knows about the light that hit Daniel.
[00:45:11] And I'm sure he's probably, I mean, there's probably a million things going through his head real quick.
[00:45:15] God's going to give me instruction.
[00:45:18] Is this God or is this an angel?
[00:45:19] Or what is this?
[00:45:22] I'm going to get instruction from God.
[00:45:24] And yes, Lord, who are you?
[00:45:28] And the response comes out, I can imagine Paul's face.
[00:45:30] I can imagine what's going through his mind when he says, I am Jesus, the one who can persecute.
[00:45:37] I can imagine the look on Saul's face, the look of horror, the horror going through his mind, what have I done?
[00:45:48] See, in his religiosity, in his supposed obedience, he wanted to do God's work, but he went his own way.
[00:45:56] He was working out of his own righteousness.
[00:45:59] You know, God, we see that today.
[00:46:01] And I sit here with Christians, and it's sad because I've done it myself.
[00:46:05] I'll raise my hand.
[00:46:06] We pick up a sword that's not ours to sling, and we cut people down because of our religious, you know, religiosity.
[00:46:11] And we go through and say, look, Lord, we smithed them in your name.
[00:46:15] Look at the mess that I made for you.
[00:46:17] And honestly, did we accomplish anything?
[00:46:21] No, I was enacting my own righteousness, my own supposed obedience to God, and really, honestly, I made more mess than I destroyed somebody versus giving them the love of Christ and going through and meeting what God's called to be,
[00:46:34] to be some light.
[00:46:35] He didn't call me to be a sword bearer.
[00:46:40] So we see where Saul's at.
[00:46:44] So Saul immediately, I think, recognized what he did.
[00:46:47] He's obedient.
[00:46:48] And he goes through and said, Lord, what must I do?
[00:46:52] What must I do?
[00:46:56] And the men in the journey with him were thinking, like, what's this guy, who's he talking to?
[00:47:01] What happened to him?
[00:47:02] Did he hit his head too hard?
[00:47:06] But they get him up, and the Lord tells them to go to one of the cities.
[00:47:12] And I'm one of these guys, I love to read for scripture, and I like to look at what the church father said, some of the reformers.
[00:47:19] And I love Charles Spurgeon.
[00:47:21] And Spurgeon made a huge point about what happened here, and about what's to happen with Saul of Parsis.
[00:47:28] And he said, you know, Saul got off from the ground.
[00:47:32] Though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing.
[00:47:37] So they took him into the city by hand and led him to Damascus.
[00:47:42] So the proud persecutor who was going to Damascus as a conqueror to crush the saints of God himself was led into the city as a captive to be forever and afterward a slave to Jesus Christ.
[00:48:01] And when we call it a slave, I see something I'm not talking about an American slave.
[00:48:04] I'm talking about the slavery as a fact is we're all called to be slaves to Christ.
[00:48:08] The word's doulos.
[00:48:09] it's called to be servants to obey one master and work for one master so we see an obedient Saul go through and say yes Lord I'm sure like I said heard, horrified, not sure where he's at
[00:48:22] in his mind lost and he's taken into the city and you know his eyes are open he's blinded so they let him there and we kind of like take a look at him or he's just there
[00:48:40] of praying. He's not eating, he's drinking, he's fasting.
[00:48:44] Paul's following him to what he knows to do, is to fast.
[00:48:47] To pray.
[00:48:50] And I'm sure at that point he's not sure what to pray for.
[00:48:57] But he's praying that I'm sure God's forgiven us.
[00:49:00] What's next?
[00:49:02] Could you imagine the horror of what you've done to people who may be coming back to make you a repercussion?
[00:49:08] You realize Saul's murdered people.
[00:49:10] He's dropped new chains. He's beat them.
[00:49:11] He's hurt them. He's tore families apart.
[00:49:17] And I'm sure why he's wondering, is this going to happen to me. Probably thinking I deserve it. So we see an obedience there that's a bad obedience. It's kind of his own obedience to what he thought God wanted.
[00:49:32] Not truly what God wanted. He's his own will versus God's will.
[00:49:37] So we kind of flip the script here a little bit.
[00:49:38] We come to this guy named Ananias.
[00:49:41] Ananias is faithful. He's many disciples.
[00:49:46] It says he's a disciple.
[00:49:48] And the Lord comes to him in a vision that says Ananias, he's He's like, here I am, Lord.
[00:49:54] So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus.
[00:50:01] For behold, he is praying.
[00:50:03] And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him so that he might receive his sight.
[00:50:12] And Ananias says, Lord, I've heard from many people about this man.
[00:50:15] He's got a quarry for the chief priests.
[00:50:17] He beats us. He murders us.
[00:50:19] Well, why?
[00:50:20] Why would we do this?
[00:50:23] Folks, put yourself in Ananias' shoes.
[00:50:26] I mean, struggle in the middle of your church.
[00:50:29] Imagine someone that maybe treats you poorly in your eyes still, and they've found they're blind and it scales in their eyes.
[00:50:34] Would it be difficult to go and lay your hands on them and do what the Lord called and asked you to do?
[00:50:41] I think it would be difficult.
[00:50:42] It would be.
[00:50:42] I mean, most people are like, really, do I have to?
[00:50:46] I know as Christians, you know, we want to do this, but it's still a struggle, isn't it?
[00:50:50] A struggle sometimes would be a beauty.
[00:50:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:50:54] Because God calls to things sometimes we don't want to do.
[00:50:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:50:56] or we're scared to do or afraid to do.
[00:51:02] But Ananias listens here.
[00:51:05] The Lord says, I'm sending you to pretty much heal his eyes and to go through and to make him see what I want him to see.
[00:51:21] So we go through and we see Ananias go, he's faithful.
[00:51:26] And he says, the reason I'm going there, and he goes to Ananias and says, the reason, go for he is my chosen vessel of mine to bear name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel.
[00:51:37] For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.
[00:51:45] Just a side note here.
[00:51:47] Imagine somebody that's got a bad kind of history like Saul.
[00:51:54] His life is not easy.
[00:51:57] He would have to scale stuff in his eyes. I've recently talked with the disciples. Even as he went through and God redeemed him as he went to people, he was still judged for what he had done.
[00:52:08] His life was not going to be easy.
[00:52:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:52:09] Walking, hey, I saw Paul now.
[00:52:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:52:11] Everything's going to be good.
[00:52:12] People called him a liar.
[00:52:13] I'm sure they went past him.
[00:52:14] Didn't want to hear what he had to say.
[00:52:18] Treated him poorly.
[00:52:23] But Christ was putting around for him.
[00:52:24] He's going to suffer for my name.
[00:52:26] Folks, rejoice in your sufferings.
[00:52:30] Suffering's not a bad thing.
[00:52:31] If we're not suffering in Christians, there's something wrong.
[00:52:33] I honestly believe that.
[00:52:34] I'm very orthodox in that.
[00:52:36] If there's not something going wrong, things are too good.
[00:52:40] That's my opinion.
[00:52:41] I'm a little orthodox in that.
[00:52:43] They've got to look at it that way.
[00:52:44] I mean, if we're not having age pains, things like that, things that wouldn't draw us to Christ.
[00:52:49] We'd have bad times.
[00:52:52] Now, that sounds awful, and it sort of looks like some perplexed looks, but honestly, suffering's not a bad thing.
[00:52:57] It draws us closer to Christ.
[00:52:58] It's not pleasant.
[00:53:00] It was never meant to be.
[00:53:02] Folks, I don't know anything about you, but I'm willing to suffer here for an eternal reward with the enemy.
[00:53:07] I'm willing.
[00:53:09] And what that suffering may look like, I have friends that suffer across the world.
[00:53:17] You know, we have a couple of people who jump up and down all the time and we don't like Christians and they want to cry a little bit.
[00:53:21] But you don't walk out of here worried about murdering you or killing your family or going to this church service and going to work and things.
[00:53:29] You know, our brothers and sisters, they've been through a lot more in the world.
[00:53:31] And you know what? My brother-in-law's from Nigeria and he tells me, you know, they'll walk 10 miles to church.
[00:53:37] The threat along the way is scary. They could be murdered, kidnapped, taken.
[00:53:44] But they're excited to get to church.
[00:53:46] They're excited to come worship him.
[00:53:49] The road doesn't matter.
[00:53:53] Folks, Paul's going to suffer in the future, but Ananias is going to suffer because he's going to go and he's going to touch this guy, but he's faithful.
[00:54:02] He's obedient.
[00:54:03] So Ananias went his way and he entered the house and he laid his hands and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight
[00:54:14] and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:54:26] Would you imagine?
[00:54:32] Wesley called this conversion pangs of the new birth.
[00:54:40] And what he meant by that was, you know, he had to go through and him being a persecutor was no accident.
[00:54:47] Him being on this journey was no accident.
[00:54:52] God brings us through horrific things to bring us to good things.
[00:54:58] Folks, I've seen the dead come back to life like we have here.
[00:55:02] Saul comes back to life.
[00:55:04] He was dead in his religiousness.
[00:55:06] He was dead in his unrighteousness.
[00:55:09] He was dead.
[00:55:10] He understood the scriptures only to an extent of what he saw in them, not what God had put in them.
[00:55:16] Because if he was truly into the scriptures as much as Paul said he was, he would have recognized Jesus Christ.
[00:55:23] He would have followed Jesus Christ.
[00:55:25] But he went his own way.
[00:55:26] He went the way of the Pharisees.
[00:55:29] But God went through and had a purpose for his life to bring around through an obedience that was obedient to Him.
[00:55:37] I hope you see that in that.
[00:55:40] There's good and bad obedience.
[00:55:43] There's good and bad righteousness.
[00:55:45] My righteousness stinks. You don't want mine.
[00:55:48] But Jesus says we want His righteousness. We want obedience to the one that brings life, not death.
[00:55:57] And you see in this, folks, I'm going to encourage you to read on.
[00:56:00] Go to the Sermon on the Rock this week.
[00:56:02] Read in the Hebrews.
[00:56:03] Check out these different books that Paul wrote when he became Paul.
[00:56:08] of Tarsus, and see a transformed man.
[00:56:13] Folks, I'm going to encourage you to go in and read Peter and the Gospels and read his letter. Those are two different guys. We see
[00:56:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:56:24] this guy has cut some dude's ear off.
[00:56:27] Defends Jesus with a sword.
[00:56:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:56:29] And then we go through and read that this man is going through and loves Christ to the point where he's running to the exiles that are scattered throughout the empire because they are suffering.
[00:56:41] Honor the emperor.
[00:56:43] Love your neighbor.
[00:56:45] Be salt like.
[00:56:46] Folks, this stuff in this book matters.
[00:56:48] This isn't just who we've been reading here for good reading.
[00:56:52] This is not just instruction.
[00:56:53] It's a call to obedience to Christ.
[00:56:55] Call for a transformation.
[00:56:57] Wesley, you've heard me say this a bajillion times.
[00:56:59] New birth.
[00:57:01] Resurrection.
[00:57:02] New life.
[00:57:05] This is Saul's new life.
[00:57:10] And folks, I've said, I mean, if you're going to chance, go celebrate recovery week.
[00:57:13] I wasn't going to recover from anything, but I went and I saw the dead coming back to life.
[00:57:17] I've met people caught in drugs and alcohol and things and people that say we don't want to be that guy now he's transformed because he went through what Saul went through he was blind now he sees
[00:57:31] and God sends him back to the fire to get their folks out so I'm excited next week to go with you to Romans Romans is an amazing book it's a heavy book we're going to go through and look at it
[00:57:48] I'm going to ruffle some feathers with Romans it's okay God's word is God's word.
[00:57:55] It's not a buffet.
[00:57:57] I don't want the doctor to tell me the truth.
[00:57:59] Jeremy, you're fat, you eat too many Doritos, and you didn't go on a diet.
[00:58:03] I don't want the doctor to say, hey, you look great.
[00:58:05] Just keep doing what you're doing.
[00:58:07] You'll be dead in five years, but hey, you're fine.
[00:58:11] You'll look good in the castle.
[00:58:12] We'll pull you in.
[00:58:14] That's not what I want.
[00:58:17] I want to know the truth.
[00:58:19] Folks, like the promise says, you're passionate.
[00:58:20] I'll never lie to you.
[00:58:21] I'm not going to pull the wool over your eyes.
[00:58:22] I'm going to tell you the truth.
[00:58:23] If you get mad at me, you have to talk to management.
[00:58:27] You know, I preach his word.
[00:58:29] But folks, I just want you to see this.
[00:58:31] And then chew on this this week.
[00:58:34] Chew on this.
[00:58:36] What does our obedience look like?
[00:58:40] Do I even know what obedience is?
[00:58:43] Am I hearing Christ's call in my life?
[00:58:45] What is this call in my life?
[00:58:48] And I'm going to ask you to pray for our church as Christ God does.
[00:58:51] Who are we called to minister to?
[00:58:53] There's a big community out there.
[00:58:57] Who are we called to?
[00:59:02] Well, it's not like that.
[00:59:03] Let us pray.
[00:59:03] Let's say the Lord's Prayer together.
[00:59:08] Start us off.
[00:59:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:59:09] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:59:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:59:58] 399.
[01:00:00] Take my life and let it be.
[01:00:03] We'll sing the first and last verse.
[01:00:05] First and last verse.
[01:00:06] Take my life and let it be.
[01:00:07] 399.
[01:00:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:00:12] Grace be upon you from the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Father.
[01:02:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:02:17] Go in peace and have a very great blessed day.
