Saul, Why Are You Persecuting Me?
First B Jackson
2025-01-26

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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We just had a congregational meeting. It felt like I should ask. So would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing a few hymns, a couple, and then a couple more. I'll let Josh do what he with hymn number five zero two.

We always have the the hymnals up here if you wanna grab one, but we'll have the words up on the wall and you can sing off the wall along with me. Here we go. I

have a song that Jesus gave me. It was sent from heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody. Tis a melody of love. In my heart, there rings a melody.

There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart, there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. I love the Christ who died on Calvary for he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody, and I know it's there to stay.

In my heart, there rings a melody. There rings a melody. Heaven's harmony. In my heart, there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love.

'Twil be my endless theme in glory. With the angels I will sing. 'Twil be a song with glorious harmony when the courts of heaven ring. In my heart, there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony.

In my heart, there rings a melody there rings a melody of Amen.

How about since Jesus came into my heart? This was a fun one too. Jennifer is playing for us today. I'm thankful for that. And here we go.

Hymn number five zero three.

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart. I have light in my soul for which long I had sought since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Floods of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows roll.

Since Jesus came into my heart. I have ceased from my wandering and going astray since Jesus came into my heart. And my sins, which were many, are all washed away since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart.

Bloods of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows roll. Since Jesus came into my heart, I shall go there to dwell in that city I know since Jesus came into my heart. And I'm happy, so happy as onward I go since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Since Jesus came into, came into my heart.

Bloods of joy o'er my soul like the Sea Billows Row, since Jesus came into my heart.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements. First of all, before we flip this slide, Iwana is on for tomorrow night. And Iwana, tomorrow night, the theme is what do you wanna be when you grow up?

So I will be dressed like a mechanic. Teton Valley, Idaho fellowship is happening. It's the second Friday of each month. So the second Friday of February will be the second one. Emily Anderson is kind of the one coordinating and in charge, and it moves about.

Think they're going to kind of have this as a floating location until they settle on something. But (808) 639-4739 is her number. And I'm sure they'll have some sort of a sign up genius to let them know who's coming. But a second Friday of each month, they were on the other side of the hill, Teton Valley, Idaho Fellowship. The Jackson Hole Women's Community Bible Study is happening at Gateway Church.

It's all the churches kind of gather and combine. It's been here for the last couple of go rounds. It's been at the Press Church before but it'll be at Gateway this coming Wednesday. Nehemiah rebuilding together, great old testament book, Wednesdays, 10AM to twelve noon down at Gateway in Raptor Jay. Carl and I are going play in the band this week, so that'll be fun.

Yeah. The men's snowmobile retreat, twenty twenty five is February 23 through the twenty fifth. You see the red print? There has been a change to the slide. It's a $120 per person, no matter the size of the person.

Okay? So, Old Faithful Christian Ranch, $120 per person. If you feel like you can't do that, you still want to go, let us know and we'll see if we might scholarship you for, but you can call Richard Largie for details, and that's his number, the 508 number is him. It's a fun time, that's a great place and the camp does a good job. Cooking is amazing, it's really really good.

If you are looking for just kind of a steady stream of scripture in your life and something that's edifying, I would recommend first be in the Bible is a blurb on this this right now. It's going to be on Matthew. So, Paschal's doing one this week too. So, I got a little advanced copy of that one. But you can take first be in the Bible with you.

In that it shows up in your emails each weekday morning. Right now, we're doing big chunks of the Old Testament and then doing little chunks of the New Testament. Right now, we're in the middle of Matthew. It's really good. So, if you can sign up for it on our website or you can just call me, call Nick in the office, let one of us know and we'll get you signed up.

There was a congregational meeting today where we did recognize volunteers and we discussed and voted on the budget and it passed unanimously. Unanimously. That's good. There was a connect hour potluck, and y'all did a great job with that. Thank you.

Stuff was delicious, and I think, gracious, I did that. That's me. Would y'all stand? Thank you, Lord, for your blessings. Thank you, lord.

As Job says, thank you for the calamity. You use both in our lives. As I've been watching a lot of basketball lately, lord. It's hard to watch a game that you're losing but you learn something from both. Winning and losing.

So, God, I pray that we would recognize the not just the prosperity that comes from your hand but we'd recognize that you use the adversity that also comes from your hand. Lord, would you allow us the grace to be able to just trust you with great humility to just trust you, to direct us to do what it is that you want us to do. In Jesus name, amen. Alright, he touched me. Hymn number five zero five.

Shackled by a heavy burden, meet the Lord of guilt and shame. Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same. He touched me. Oh, he touched me. And oh, the joy that floods my soul.

Something happened, and now I know he touched me and made me whole. Since I met this blessed savior, since he cleansed and made me whole, I will never cease to praise him. I'll shout it while eternity rose. He touched me. Oh, he touched me.

And all the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know he touched me and made me

whole. Amen. How about what a friend we have in Jesus? That that's he touched me and oh, the joy that floods my soul. It is joyful to have a friend in Jesus.

Here we are.

What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what feast we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not care everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faith ful who will all our sorrows share. Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care. Precious savior still our refuge.

Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer. His arms he'll take and shield thee thou will find a soulless there.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat and have a worship through giving is our next thing. I'd invite the ushers to come forward and would y'all pray with me? Lord God almighty, I thank you for the the beauty of the day, the beauty to be able to gather in your name and sing your praises, to listen for direction in the first service. I was overwhelmed by your ability, lord, to listen to us and to speak to us and to do it all at the same time.

It's mind boggling. Lord, that you are listening to our prayers and you are given direction to us and to others at the same time. Lord God almighty, you blow our minds. I'm I'm so thankful for you and I ask you right now lord that everything that's placed before you right now in this operatory time, the worship through given time, that you would receive it, to do your kingdom's work in the way that you want to do it. We want to be about doing your will and your way.

Lord, I think I long to do your will, not just individually. I believe that we are gathered in your name because we long to do your will, oh Lord. Show us your way and allow us the power by your Holy Spirit to walk in it. In Jesus name, I thank you for the steps that you have placed before us individually and before this church. Would you use this to accomplish that kingdom work in Jesus name.

Amen. Your dad? There we go. I'm gonna invite someone. Thank you, Jennifer.

Invite Steve Gilmore up. A lot of you all know him because you've been in the valley for a while, and he's been in the valley for a good long while. And he has helped a lot of people over the years to get sober and to get healthy and he has been doing that. He'll tell you more about it but he's also a pastor over in Driggs and he's on a Sunday morning. He let somebody in the congregation take over so that he could be here to kinda express this to y'all and I'm just gonna get out of the way.

This is my buddy. I love him dearly. He comes over on Fridays and we sit and we put into practice the things that God is teaching us and it's wonderful. So thankful for him.

So, I'm Steve. Sitting in your seat in the last service was Russ Wood. And thirty six years ago, I sat across from him at his desk, and he took me through the 12 steps for the first time. I have been involved in recovery ministry and recovery work. I've been at Kern Seeley for twenty plus years.

Now we're Mental Health and Recovery Services of Jackson Hole.

That is our outpatient recovery center here in Jackson. It is mainly B1.

And so, the last ten years, I have been transforming my idea of life, really. I have master's degree in exercise physiology, where I studied the neuromuscular junction, so I have a neurobiology background. I also have a master's degree in theology, and what's happened for me is they've come together in the last ten years. That the God who made us wrote my Bible. And it's all about, this brain is all about how do I live in joy?

Paul starts every letter with grace and peace. The receiving of grace is joy. And so, what I've been working on for the last ten years with a group of people that have produced lots of things is this neurotheology. And it applies to all of us regardless, but the program I'm going to set up, we're going do it in the basement here, is twelve weeks. There's a video component to it where we learn the brain science of trauma recovery and addiction.

And then we practice for an hour on how to develop the brain pathways that prevent addiction from taking over your life, and to recover. There's inner healing pieces in it. There's lots of stuff in it, it's awesome. I did the class in Driggs with some people from my church and some people from out of it. They were ages 16 to my age.

They were addicts, alcoholics, not out addicts and alcoholics, people with trauma, just normal folks. And that's why I expect to be involved in this here too, just anybody that wants to live in more joy. And it's six weeks, or twelve weeks, sorry, and we'll do a kind of informational meeting. It's $25 for a workbook, and the rest is pay it forward, which is my group that I did last time paid it forward for this group. And so, can afford to do that with my time.

So, there's flyers in the back as you walk out, come join us. It was transformative for me this last time I did

it. So Thank you. He he mentioned in the first service, he said, and it's fairly fairly common. What to ask is, if you're struggling with addiction, you're welcome and if you're he's asking you not to come drunk. If pot is your thing, just don't smoke it that day before you get here.

Try to to to come clean so that you can take in all that you can. I'm very, very thankful for Steve. I'm very, very thankful for the meetings under the browsing by. I'm very thankful for the meetings over in Wilson and the meetings. And the 12 steps that we went through together fairly recently, we've had a lot of folks come forward in the last few weeks and it feels like this is an area that God is trying to help people get unstuck.

So, really really thankful to be a deeper and more joyful relationship with you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. So, here we are. We're up Acts nine one is where we left off last week.

We finished talking about the ministry in Samaria that was happening that was great and then Philip was called away. So, Samaria is North of Jerusalem about 45 or 50 miles ish and in between there and Galilee where we're used to Jesus and his disciples hanging out, you know, 80 something miles away from Jerusalem And so, the the ministry in Samaria just north was going great, but God calls Philip away and called him down on the road South of Jerusalem. It leads to Gaza and he ministers to the needs of a very wealthy Ethiopian eunuch, and it was a great time for me last week with a big shot in the arm to present a sermon on baptism, you know, the the here is water, what hinders you from being baptized, having a full baptistry, and having two people get baptized was just joyous for me. It was really, really good and I think for most of y'all too but the the next line after he was, you know, they come up out of the water and Philip was not seen anymore and the the guys headed back. So, the gospel has gone north to Samaria fulfilling Jesus's prophetic statement of you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and the uttermost parts.

Now, the gospel is in the chariot heading south to Ethiopia with the eunuch and Philip is carried away to Azotus or Ashdod and he's going up the coast preaching everywhere he goes up to Maritime Caesarea where he lights and lands, marries, and has kids. That is cool. The gospel is going forth from Jerusalem. It's going south. It's going north.

It's bounded on the west by the Mediterranean. But meanwhile, Saul, this is the way this starts off. So, chapter nine, Peter and John had gone back to Jerusalem. They were joyous preaching in all the villages of Samaria on the way back down through Judea and into Jerusalem and meanwhile, Saul, that's the way it starts off. Now, Saul, what do we know about him?

If we're going with what we have seen in Acts so far, we know this. Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. So, Stephen, the first listed of the seven deacons who were named to take care of the of the distribution of food and Stephen gave this magnificent, beautiful sermon to the Sanhedrin and the aftermath of that was he was stoned for that beautiful sermon. Saul was one of the witnesses to that stoning which was a lynch mob. It was not done the right way.

It was not done as prescribed for heresy or for whatever blasphemy in the Old Testament. It was just a lynch mob and Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed completely. There's no doubt about where he stood on this and it says a great wave of persecution began that day. Paul was Saul was a big part of it. It was sweeping over the church in Jerusalem.

All the believers except the apostles were scattered throughout the region. Were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. Cilicia, I highlight there because if you don't know this already, if you don't know ancient geography, it might just slip past. It's just a name you don't know anything about. But Cilicia is the province, Roman province that Tarsus is the capital city.

Tarsus is where Saul is from. We find that out later in Acts. Saul of Tarsus. Tarsus was a great center of learning. It was on the par with Alexandria in Egypt, and Athens in Greece, and Tarsus.

It was known to be a center of learning. And I'll say, not just religious learning, Paul Saul was brought up at his at his synagogue learning religious learning but he was brought up and educated in the ways of Tarsus which can be a fairly pagan place. It was a secular education. If you think, no, that's not really yeah, that's really true And we see that especially when he's preaching in Athens, we see that. But we know that Saul had this great education and that he was advanced in Judaism and super zealous.

Well, get to that scripturally in a minute. We also see that none of them could stand against the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke. So, in Acts 16, we'll find out that Paul is a Roman citizen. So, he's a very learned guy. Tarsus was a free city.

They didn't even have to pay Roman taxes. It's declared a free city and the people there, he attained Roman citizenship by birth. In Acts 16, it says so. In Acts 22, he goes on to say, not just that I acquired it but I have been a citizen since birth. So, we know that he has a Roman citizenship that he uses at times but he does not always use it to his advantage.

Sometimes, he foregoes that. In Acts 25, when we see Paul before Festus, he asked for a Roman trial. He knew, he knows how things go in Jerusalem. He had been on the other side of that, right? So, he didn't want a trial as a as a in Jerusalem.

He wanted a trial to be as a Roman citizen and then and again, in Acts 26, we see the same thing. He appealed to Caesar. If you want to see a picture of Saul before it before he became Paul and that's what we're talking about today, his conversion. If you want to see a picture of him, he expresses it, I think, very well in Philippians three and he says, if there's anybody who's trying to boast in their religiosity just before this, I, myself, could boast as having confidence even in the flesh. If anyone thinks that he's confident in the flesh, that he's done everything right, I have even more reason.

I was born into a very, very religious family. I was circumcised on the eighth day just like you're supposed to do of the nation of Israel, God's chosen people of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the good ones. He's bragging a little bit. He's not. He's saying if I were gonna boast, this is the way this would go.

A Hebrew of Hebrews, I stood out from my peers as being very pure in my theology. As to the law, I was a Pharisee, the best kind. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. So, know what it's like to be on the other side of this and obviously, he's writing as Paul at this point but he says, as to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. I thought I was doing God a favor when I was killing Christians.

As to the righteousness which is in the law, is there any righteousness in the law? It really is just a mirror to show us where we go wrong but he says, as to the righteousness which is in the law, as far as you can tell, I was blameless. In Galatians, very off the kick in Galatians. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? No, not that part.

He says, I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen being more extremely zealous for all of my ancestral traditions. He saw the ways of the world as presented in Tarsus and in his education. He knew that this is the right way. Judaism and so he was advanced beyond his contemporaries. But playing back on that as far as the righteousness of the law, I want you to see his exposition in Romans.

Now, this is Paul writing again but he's given you an idea of who he was before he was united with Christ. This Romans seven is that famous chapter where the things I want to do are the things I don't do and the things I don't want to do are the things I'm constantly end up doing. That's what addiction is. That's what it is. What shall we say then is the law of sin?

Well, of course not. Far from it. May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. It showed me what sin was for I would not have known about and he mentions his sin.

He mentions his sin to these people he's never met before and all of us too. He puts it out there. Vulnerability is really beautiful. I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. But sin, taking an opportunity through that commandment, the more I tried not to do it, the more I found myself doing it.

I mean, for some of us, it might be doom scrolling. It might be anything to kind of numb the pain. But for him, it was coveting. Do you think he wanted stuff? Do you think he wanted a bigger house?

Do you think he might have wanted a wife? What do you think? I don't know. Covening was what he says his deal was and you can't see coveting from the outside but he's telling us about it because sin taking an opportunity through the commandment produced in me a coveting of every kind, far apart, far apart from the law. Sin is dead.

I was once alive apart from the law but when the commandment came, sin just came to life in me. Sin came to life and I died and this commandment which was to result in life. It's a good thing. God gave us the law. It's a good thing.

It's a blessing. It proved to result in death for me. I knew I was condemned by the law for sin. Taking an opportunity through that commandment, sin deceived me and through it, it killed me. So then, the law is good and holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The commandment is but me not being able to live by shows that it it is a killer for me. Can you hear in there? Covetousness and ambition is what he's saying. Now, I'm on I'm on put some things together for you. I'm going connect some dots.

Saul was there at Stephen's sermon. Saul had been trained in oratory. Probably he had certainly been trained in debate. He'd certainly been trained in all of these ways of Tarsus and in Judaism and to hear Stephen give this beautiful declaration of his own history, right? Of Paul's own history.

Do you think Paul was sitting there going, golly, he's speaking to the whole Sanhedrin. I want to do that. I want to have this opportunity. I want to be that just it's obvious and it makes you mad when somebody has something that you think you deserve, doesn't it? And it fires your zeal a little bit when they have something that you deserve, not them.

So, I think, I'm not positive. I think that because Saul was present, he didn't throw the stones but he was holding the coats for the ones who did. He's from Cilicia. He's part of the synagogue that was persecuting and going after him and I I think that I think that Saul was resolute. Meanwhile, Saul, it says right here, he was uttering threats with every breath.

It was just everything consumed him. He was uttering threats with every breath and he was eager to kill the Lord's followers. Remember what Jesus had told the disciples in Matthew? He said, hey, there's coming a time where the people who kill you will be thinking that they're doing me a favor. They're thinking that they're doing God a favor.

He was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to kill the Lord's father. So, he did what you do. He went to the high priest and he said, give me these writs that I can go to Damascus. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus.

Archaeology tells us there were about 10 synagogues in Damascus at this time. The way Christianity, Christianity was not called Christianity till years later at Antioch and when it was, it was a term of derision against people who followed after Jesus. But right now, it's just called the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and followers of the way were people who've been saved by Jesus by faith and they were following after him by faith and by the spirit. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus about a 120 miles North Of Jerusalem, forty, fifty miles north of Galilee.

Asking for their cooperation and the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. So he was gonna go. He had a few guys with him and when he got there, he was getting together with the super religious folks in Damascus and they were gonna gather them all together and he's dragging them back to Jerusalem in chains. He wanted to bring them, both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains, in bondage. And as he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.

Y'all can see that, can't you? We've seen a thousand images of it. As he's approaching Damascus, where he's going with great zeal and passion and I can say pride, A light from heaven suddenly shone down around him and he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I I highlight the me. There probably should be capital m.

They don't do that in the New Living Translation but Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now, who are you lord? I don't know who you are. I don't even know who you are. The I highlighted the l here.

This word is Kirier actually. Kirier is up in the booth today. Kirie in Greek means lord. It means sir or master or lord. It can be just a polite thing to how do you do sir?

And at this point, the reason I included is because my professor is the one who translated the New Living Translation of Acts from the Greek and I just think it's interesting that because Saul did not yet know Jesus, he he put a small l there because he's just scared to death. Who who who who are you, lord? So, that's that and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one who you are persecuting. Now, the me there and then Jesus saying, it's me. I'm the one you're persecuting.

Now, he had persecuted lots of people but do we have any definitive scriptural proof that Paul had ever been face to face with Jesus? He could have been but we don't know that. He's from Tarsus, not from Jerusalem. He could have been for some of those festivals. Maybe, I don't know.

Doesn't say that he was. In fact, later on, he says, I met Jesus as one out of time. It was after the resurrection. It was after the ascension even and he says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting.

Does that catch all estranged that Saul's never met him but Jesus says straight up you're persecuting me. Why is that? Because he's persecuting Jesus' church and Jesus said, you are my body. You are the continuing presence of Jesus here on Earth. The church, I'm building my church.

You're part of it. Think about this. I know that we think about it usually when we talk about mercy ministries and homeless ministries and not being prejudiced and things. When you hear Jesus say in Matthew 25, whatsoever you have done to the least of these my brothers, you've also done that to me. And we think, oh, I I need to be nice to those people because I'm doing that to Jesus.

No matter who they are, I need to be kind and nice and friendly and I don't need to be mean and racist and I don't need to be stingy. I need to be generous. I don't want to be ugly to him but do you think of it this way? Saul was persecuting the church and Jesus said, you're persecuting me. Does that have some big brother energy to me as a big brother?

Not not just an older brother, but big brother. My little brother and I fought. We'd tussle around the yard, and he might have shot me with a BB gun at very close range. And, know, we'd we'd we had one pair of boxing gloves, there were two of us, and I'm bigger than him. So I got the left handed glove, and he got the right handed glove.

Both of us are right handed. And we'd tussle and fight, you know. But I love him dearly, and if anybody else messes with him, that's a completely different thing. Why are you persecuting me? You're messing with my little my little brother, you're messing with me.

And Jesus says, why are you persecuting me? I'm Jesus, the one you're persecuting. Now, you get up and you go into the city and you'll be told what you must do. That's authoritative. It's really authoritative and the men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice.

He wasn't speaking to them. He's speaking Saul Saul to be sure. They heard the sound of the voice but they saw no one. Saul picked himself up off the ground but when he opened his eyes, he was blind, blinded by the light. So, his companions led him by the hand to Damascus.

Oh, think about the humiliation and the humbling that he had received. He left having audience with the high priest, the guy who sits in the center of the Sanhedrin semi circle. Where Saul wanted to be because he's super ambitious. Saul picked himself up off the ground. He had been humbled.

And his companions had to lead him by the hand. This was not the charge into Damascus by way of the gate that he had anticipated when he left Jerusalem. He remained there blind for three days and he did not eat or drink. He was fasting for the time that he was there. He had been floored.

Can you imagine his shock? I am Jesus. I am the way. Why are you persecuting me? And now he's blind, being led by the hand, he's fasting.

Now, there's a believer in Damascus. A believer, actually, the text says, which is disciple or student. There's a a dedicated, eager student who believes in Jesus that is in Damascus and he's named Ananias. This is one of the guys that Paul wanted to drag back in chains to Jerusalem. And by the way, he's named Ananias, not the same Ananias that Carl preached on several weeks ago.

Ananias and Sapphira, not the same guy. And if you're writing a fictional account, you know what you do? You make them different names so that doesn't seem kind of weird that they had the same name, but the truth is they just had the same name. A lot of guys named Ananias at the time, this one was a believer, a disciple or student of Jesus in Damascus named Ananias and the Lord spoke to him in a vision calling out Ananias by name. Saul Saul by name.

Ananias by name. Yes, Lord, capital l, same word. I just found it interesting that's why I highlighted it. It's the same word, but it can mean different things. It can be a polite, yes, sir, but he's not really your lord or this guy is a dedicated disciple and he says, lord, there's no doubt about it.

Capitalize that l. Sure. Yes, lord. He replied, here am I. And the Lord said, go over to Straight Street.

You know where it is. Actually, it's still there. Straight Street is still in Damascus. Damascus is still a hard place for Christians to be. Really hard.

Damascus, Syria, it's really hard. But you can go and Straight Street is still there. All the Roman columns that were there that they walked in between are most of them are still there, not all of them. Archways still there. The shops that are set up in Damascus are set up along Straight Street just like they were at this time.

The Lord said, go over to Straight Street, go to the house of Judas again. Would you name a different character? Judas. No. But it's a common name especially among dedicated Jews because Judas the hammer had come before and they love that guy because it's a military guy, right?

He was going to take over from the Romans. So, Judas, no. Go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas. That's not Judas Iscariot. That's not Judas Thaddeus.

No. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. Again, Tarsus, Saul, Cilicia, capital, free city. Saul's a Roman citizen. He has more privileges than most of the people would have had in Damascus because he has Roman citizenship.

This is interesting right here. Ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. Jesus is speaking to Ananias and he's listening to Saul at the same time. Oh, I love that.

Saul of Tarsus is praying to you, Jesus. He hates you. That's what I know about him is he hates your guts. He hates everything that we believe. He's praying to me right now.

He has been humbled. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Now, I have shown Saul in a vision that a man named Ananias is coming. He's coming in to lay hands on him so he can see again.

This is your next step, Ananias. But lord, he exclaimed. Ain't that great? We've heard about this guy but lord exclaimed Ananias. I've heard many people talking about the terrible things this man has done.

I mean, he watched Stephen get stoned, stood there holding the coats. I've heard all of the stuff. He started from there and just enraged. He went about killing, dragging people back, putting people on trial. I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem such that they scattered into Samaria and scattered beyond that and he's authorized by the leading priest to arrest everyone who calls upon your name, Jesus.

He's authorized by the leading priest to rest everyone who calls upon your name but the Lord said, go. I didn't stutter. Saul is my chosen instrument. Now, if that doesn't remind you of Isaiah fifty five eight, the his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

That's not the way I would have done it, but you know what? Two thousand years later, after he wrote two thirds of the New Testament went on four missionary journeys. God's way is probably better than my way. Go, Ananias. For Saul is my chosen instrument.

He is a tool in my hands that I'm gonna use for grace. I'm gonna show my message to the Gentiles, the education. You remember, it's we haven't gotten to it yet but Acts 17, Mars Hill. He understands those folks in Athens. He gets it.

He's from Tarsus. He gets it. Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, Festus, Agrippa, Herod, Agrippa. To take my message to the Gentiles and to kings as well as to the people of Israel. Nobody knows the scriptures better.

He's my chosen instrument and I'll show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. Now, went down the Via Dolorosa. He suffered. No doubt about it And those who follow after him will have some suffering coming and this is what Jesus is saying directly to Ananias. I'm gonna show him what it is, what his road of suffering looks like.

You know, you can go down to second Corinthians 11. You can see the list of some of the things he suffered, not all. Before the end of the chapter, he's gonna be lowered down over a wall which he would think was absolutely shameful, you know, to not be able to leave by the gate but have to go down over a wall under cover of darkness. I'm going to show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake and so, Ananias went. Amen.

Obedience. Hey, it works. He's listening to Saul praying. He's speaking to Ananias at the time and he said but but but lord, I'm it's it's bad. He says, go.

He's my chosen instrument. He's still praying to me. Right now, he's praying to me. He's in a position to hear the word and I'm sending it through you. So, Ananias went.

He found Saul. I'm sure on straight street right where he told him to. He laid his hands on him. Just like Peter and John laid the hands on believers in Samaria. He laid his hands on him and he said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, he sent me so that you might regain your sight.

That's what Jesus told him he was going to do. You go there, lay hands on him, and I'm going to give him back his sight. But the next line goes further than that and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen. So now, all of this worldly learning and all of this religious zeal and all of this actually, I told you about his religious zeal where he says, oh, Hebrew Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, people of Israel, circumcised a day, everything done right as to the law, which you can see, blameless.

The next line there says, and I count all of that as rubbish for the superior knowledge of knowing Christ and his suffering. To get it is to get it to be filled with the Holy Spirit, transformed him completely, and instantly, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight and then he got up. And just like that Ethiopian eunuch, just like Connor last week, just like Loretta last week, he got up and was baptized. Amen. It's just beautiful.

It was immediate. They didn't wait for confirmation process. They didn't wait for six months of watch care. They baptized him because he got up believing and was baptized. Afterwards, he ate some food and he regained his strength.

Amen. When people are having severe trauma and they've had a a sort of a psychotic break, a lot of times, it takes them to a place of not being able to eat and not being able to sleep and it's amazing that when Jesus restores them, one of the first things it says, and they got up and they took something to eat and they regain their strength and they were able to rest. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days and immediately, he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogue saying, he is indeed the son of God. Now, Paul had taken the opposite position in this debate for some time now and he knew all of the all of the opposition's ways because he had exploited all the opposition's ways but remember that line where it says that in the debate, none of them could match Stephen's ability. He had the Holy Spirit on his side, and now Paul, Saul, this guy has all of this worldly learning just like Moses.

Think about this. Moses in the Old Testament, what was he schooled? In Egypt. The best schools at the time were in Egypt. He was schooled in all the ways of Egypt but when it came to the place where he met God and he got the choice to stand up for his people, the Hebrews, or to just go about being the prince of Egypt.

He chose to go with God. Same thing for Saul. Immediately, he began to proclaim that Jesus is indeed the son of God. There's more in this chapter. We'll get to it next week about him leaving from there and where where they went from there but I wanted to share this today.

You see the proud zeal that is humbled by almighty God just receiving a simple message from Jesus. You're persecuting me. The three days of fasting and prayer shows that he was humbled before God and Christ heard his prayer. At the same time, he was directing other individuals to be together with him to help him to come to a right relationship. Can you imagine the joy that flooded his soul?

God made us to be together. I'm glad this happened on the same day that Steve's announcing this new thing that's happening because God wants for us to be able to be together and to be vulnerable in front of one another, to confess our sins to one another, and to be able to go forward together. I don't I don't think I have anything as far as any other slides. Will you pray with me? God, I pray that we would recognize the blessings that you're putting in front of us.

I pray that we would recognize the adversity that we're going through is for our good and for your glory. Would you allow us the grace to see it as you intended it? Your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our thoughts. We need to think on a higher plane.

I pray lord that you by your Holy Spirit would renew our minds and transform us as you did Saul. If there's any area of my life, search me, oh God, and know my heart today. If there's any kind of wicked way in me that I don't see, would you transform it? Would you change it? Would you bring it to my attention?

Allow me to confess it to you. Would you, lord, cleanse me from every sin and set me free. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Would you stand with me?

We're gonna sing the doxology. And we're gonna play it too, aren't we? Amen.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost.

And that's a benediction from Psalm 31 today. Now, oh, how abundant is your goodness, God, which you have stored up for those who fear, revere you, and work for those who take their refuge in you in the sight of the child of the children of mankind. Lord, how good you are and we can see it especially lord if we see it with the eyes of a child. Lord, would you allow your grace to flow through us? Would you allow for our joy to be so attractive that people are drawn into relationship with you?

Amen. Amen. Play some.