1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:21,140 I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high, oh God, the battle belongs to you, and every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night, oh God, the battle belongs to you. 2 00:00:27,140 --> 00:00:33,460 And if you are for me, who can be against me? 3 00:00:33,460 --> 00:00:45,080 For Jesus, there's nothing impossible for you. 4 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:54,140 When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. 5 00:00:57,140 --> 00:01:01,960 When all I see is a cross 6 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,960 God, you see the empty tomb 7 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:11,000 So when I fight 8 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,820 I'll fight on my knees 9 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:16,560 With my hands lifted high 10 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,920 Oh God, the battle belongs to you 11 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,460 And every fear I lay at your feet 12 00:01:25,460 --> 00:01:33,500 I'll sing through the night, oh God, the battle belongs to you. 13 00:01:33,500 --> 00:01:42,120 Almighty fortress, you go before us. 14 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:47,420 Nothing can stand against the power of our God. 15 00:01:47,420 --> 00:01:53,700 You shine in the shadow, you win every battle. 16 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,860 Nothing can stand against the power of our God. 17 00:01:58,860 --> 00:02:05,340 Almighty fortress, you go before us. 18 00:02:05,340 --> 00:02:10,700 Nothing can stand against the power of our God. 19 00:02:10,700 --> 00:02:13,760 You shine in the shadow. 20 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,700 You win every battle. 21 00:02:16,700 --> 00:02:23,700 Nothing can stand against the power of our God. 22 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:31,240 So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees 23 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,980 With my hands lifted high 24 00:02:33,980 --> 00:02:38,340 Oh God, the battle belongs to you 25 00:02:38,340 --> 00:02:42,880 And every fear I lay at your feet 26 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,640 I'll sing through the night 27 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:50,400 Oh God, the battle belongs to you 28 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:56,400 Oh, God, the battle belongs to you. 29 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:50,380 Thank you. 30 00:03:50,400 --> 00:04:00,800 Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. 31 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:05,300 Worship His holy name. 32 00:04:05,300 --> 00:04:13,840 Sin like never before, oh my soul. 33 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,580 I worship Your holy name. 34 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:36,720 The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing your song again. 35 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,160 Whatever may pass 36 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,420 And whatever lies before me 37 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:48,460 Let me be singing 38 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:52,480 When the evening comes 39 00:04:52,480 --> 00:05:00,360 Bless the Lord, O my soul 40 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,660 O my soul 41 00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:08,380 Worship His holy name 42 00:05:08,380 --> 00:05:13,520 Sing like never before 43 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,740 Oh my soul 44 00:05:16,740 --> 00:05:21,520 I'll worship Your holy name 45 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:29,840 You're rich in love 46 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,520 And You're slow to anger 47 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:39,780 Your name is great and your heart is kind 48 00:05:39,780 --> 00:05:46,820 For all your goodness I will keep on singing 49 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:54,940 Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find 50 00:05:58,940 --> 00:06:11,480 Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship his holy name. 51 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:24,540 Sin like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name. 52 00:06:28,940 --> 00:06:36,380 And on that day when my strength is failing 53 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:42,660 The end draws me and my time has come 54 00:06:42,660 --> 00:06:49,860 Still my soul will sing your praise unending 55 00:06:49,860 --> 00:06:57,860 Ten thousand years and then forevermore 56 00:06:57,860 --> 00:07:06,080 Bless the Lord, O my soul 57 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,400 O my soul 58 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,400 Worship His holy name 59 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,180 Sing like never before 60 00:07:19,180 --> 00:07:22,520 O my soul 61 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:28,780 I'll worship your holy name 62 00:07:28,780 --> 00:07:32,540 Bless the Lord, oh my soul 63 00:07:32,540 --> 00:07:35,780 Oh my soul 64 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:40,880 Worship his holy name 65 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:45,660 Sin like never before 66 00:07:45,660 --> 00:07:48,960 Oh my soul 67 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,660 I'll worship your holy name. 68 00:07:53,660 --> 00:08:00,740 Yes, I will worship your holy name. 69 00:08:00,740 --> 00:08:07,340 Lord, I'll worship your holy name. 70 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,100 Thank you. 71 00:08:48,960 --> 00:09:18,940 Thank you. 72 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:48,940 Thank you. 73 00:10:48,960 --> 00:11:18,940 Transcription by CastingWords 74 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:48,940 Thank you. 75 00:11:48,960 --> 00:12:18,940 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 76 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:48,940 We'll be right back. 77 00:12:48,960 --> 00:13:18,940 Thank you. 78 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:48,940 O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord. 79 00:13:48,960 --> 00:14:18,940 Come and listen to me. 80 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:48,940 Let's pray. 81 00:14:48,960 --> 00:15:18,940 Thank you. 82 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:48,940 Thank you. 83 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,660 into our time of communion um we're going to be singing together i wanted to share 84 00:15:53,660 --> 00:16:00,720 a couple verses out of Psalm 107 uh just as we focus today on our hope that we can find 85 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:09,260 in God and it's uh Psalm 107 says give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love 86 00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:15,540 endures forever let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered 87 00:16:15,540 --> 00:16:19,480 in from the lands, from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. 88 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:25,640 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty. 89 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:30,580 Their soul fainted within them. They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered 90 00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:35,680 them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 91 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:41,920 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. 92 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:49,840 for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things and I love that 93 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:55,960 verse 9 there because everybody's been hungry before and in a bad mood Brandon's pretty famous 94 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:03,900 for that whenever he's hungry but it doesn't just apply to actual food it applies to all the things 95 00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:09,500 that God fills us up with he can fill us with joy in times of darkness he can fill us with hope in a 96 00:17:09,500 --> 00:17:18,080 time of hopelessness, and he fills us up with good things, and it's just a really good reminder that 97 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:24,840 all things from God are good, and he wants good things for us, and so we're going to sing together 98 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:28,020 Break Every Chain, and then we're going to move into our time of communion. 99 00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:48,520 There is power in the name of Jesus 100 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:55,000 There is power in the name of Jesus 101 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:01,660 There is power in the name of Jesus 102 00:18:01,660 --> 00:18:08,600 To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain 103 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:15,820 There is power in the name of Jesus 104 00:18:15,820 --> 00:18:21,820 There is power in the name of Jesus 105 00:18:21,820 --> 00:18:29,120 There is power in the name of Jesus 106 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:35,560 To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain 107 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:42,760 To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain. 108 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:56,440 Oh, sufficient sacrifice, so freely given, such a price. 109 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:05,660 On our redemptions, heaven's gates swing wide 110 00:19:05,660 --> 00:19:15,000 There is power in the name of Jesus 111 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:21,680 There is power in the name of Jesus 112 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:28,880 There is power in the name of Jesus 113 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:36,400 Break every chain, break every chain, break every chain 114 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:41,620 There is power in the name of Jesus 115 00:19:41,620 --> 00:19:48,400 There is power in the name of Jesus 116 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:55,780 There is power in the name of Jesus 117 00:19:55,780 --> 00:19:59,880 Break every chain, break every chain 118 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:06,520 Break every chain, break every chain 119 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,580 Break every chain 120 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:35,400 If you haven't had a chance to pick up your communion elements and you would like to partake 121 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,300 with us this morning, they are on the little table right as you come in. 122 00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:47,980 And as I was thinking about gathering together with you for the Lord's Supper, 123 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:53,640 And I was thinking about today, 4th of July, a day we celebrate freedom. 124 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,000 Rachel did not let me wear my shirt with the bald eagle on it that says, 125 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,300 I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my freedom. 126 00:20:59,300 --> 00:21:07,040 I was thinking about that, and I've shared some of this with some of you before, 127 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:13,300 but probably one of the most memorable times that I ever participated in the Lord's Supper. 128 00:21:13,300 --> 00:21:17,900 There was no songs. There wasn't really even any Bible reading. 129 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:25,260 just a little bit of fear. I was 17 years old and I was visiting my uncle who was a missionary 130 00:21:25,260 --> 00:21:32,980 in Belarus and in that area there was mandatory military service when you turned 18 and so one of 131 00:21:32,980 --> 00:21:38,820 the young men had just from the youth group had gone into military service and you were allowed 132 00:21:38,820 --> 00:21:44,480 to go visit them on Sunday afternoons and one of the things about Belarus which is still true today 133 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,400 is that it's not a friendly country toward Christians. 134 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,640 And so we were there with some of the kids from the youth group, 135 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,000 and he said one of the things he wanted to do is he said, 136 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,700 I'd like to partake of communion. 137 00:21:56,700 --> 00:21:59,680 And so we gathered around, and they told me and a couple of my cousins, 138 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:00,680 I said, stand over here. 139 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,320 And I was like, well, why are we standing here? 140 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,880 And it said, so the guy who's looking over the fence 141 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,760 to make sure that we're not going to do what we're going to do can't see him. 142 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:13,040 And if we get in trouble, you as an American are going to get off easy 143 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:21,980 compared to anybody else and it was in that moment i think that i realized the privilege that you and 144 00:22:21,980 --> 00:22:32,040 i have um to not have to be afraid right we have this freedom and when Paul prays in first Timothy 145 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:37,340 the second chapter and he prays for governments he prays that we would have this kind of freedom 146 00:22:37,340 --> 00:22:44,400 not just to enjoy but rather to proclaim the gospel and the question I think for God's people 147 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:52,220 is what are we doing with this gift that God has given us where we don't have to gather in fear and 148 00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:59,040 we don't have to hide and we don't have to be afraid but I think the freedom that we remember 149 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:07,040 this morning is more deeply, is more deep than simply physical freedom. Jesus, when he preaches 150 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,840 his very first sermon in his home church in Nazareth, reads from Isaiah and he says this, 151 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:17,620 the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. 152 00:23:17,620 --> 00:23:24,100 He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind 153 00:23:24,100 --> 00:23:27,080 and to set the oppressed free. 154 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,800 And Jesus says, I come to bring freedom. 155 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,520 And he's not talking there about physical freedom 156 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,080 or being afraid of governments 157 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:36,380 or being allowed to do what we want, 158 00:23:36,380 --> 00:23:39,520 but he's talking about a freedom that goes deeper 159 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,460 to the very core of our being, 160 00:23:41,460 --> 00:23:43,020 a spiritual freedom. 161 00:23:43,020 --> 00:23:46,720 That we are no longer crushed under the burden of sin, 162 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:48,720 that we are no longer slaves to sin, 163 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,700 that we don't have to be afraid, 164 00:23:50,820 --> 00:23:58,480 but we have this freedom in Christ that nourishes the very depth of our soul. 165 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,040 Paul says it this way, 166 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:05,700 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 167 00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:09,080 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, 168 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,640 though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. 169 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:18,660 But God shows his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 170 00:24:19,300 --> 00:24:22,700 Therefore, since we now have been justified by his blood, 171 00:24:22,700 --> 00:24:27,260 how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God? 172 00:24:27,260 --> 00:24:32,140 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, 173 00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:36,640 much more now we are reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 174 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:41,840 More than that, we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 175 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,780 through whom we now have received reconciliation. 176 00:24:44,780 --> 00:24:47,200 That we're free from fear. 177 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,880 If you're a Christian, the bonds of sin have been broken. 178 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,820 You're given the Holy Spirit to help you and encourage you and strengthen you. 179 00:24:56,820 --> 00:25:02,720 So as we break this bread this morning, let's be thankful for the freedom. 180 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,820 The freedom of the country in which we live. 181 00:25:05,820 --> 00:25:08,040 The freedom to proclaim the gospel. 182 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:13,940 But most of all, and most importantly of all, the freedom that comes through Jesus. 183 00:25:14,700 --> 00:25:18,620 I'm going to pray and we'll read from 1 Corinthians 11 and then we'll partake together. 184 00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:22,420 Father in heaven, thank you for how you have blessed us. 185 00:25:22,420 --> 00:25:26,740 We so often do not appreciate the gifts that you've given us. 186 00:25:26,740 --> 00:25:31,400 Help us not to lose sight of the good news of the gospel 187 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,460 that frees us from our sin and our fear and our shame 188 00:25:35,460 --> 00:25:39,280 and brings us into a relationship with you where there is hope 189 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,480 and there is peace and there is joy regardless of our external circumstances. 190 00:25:44,180 --> 00:25:46,660 We thank you for how you help us and encourage us. 191 00:25:46,660 --> 00:25:50,020 As we break this bread and as we drink this cup this morning, 192 00:25:50,020 --> 00:25:54,840 may you nourish our hearts, strengthen our faith, 193 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,600 bring us to repentance for our sins, 194 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:02,240 and help us to see your love that has been so freely given. 195 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,480 I ask that you bless this bread and bless this cup. 196 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,300 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 197 00:26:09,620 --> 00:26:15,160 Jesus, the night that he was betrayed, will take bread, 198 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,740 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, 199 00:26:18,740 --> 00:26:20,960 this is my body, which is for you. 200 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,300 Do this in remembrance of me. 201 00:26:23,300 --> 00:26:24,640 Let's partake together. 202 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:34,860 In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, 203 00:26:34,860 --> 00:26:38,060 saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 204 00:26:38,900 --> 00:26:42,520 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 205 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:43,580 Let's drink together. 206 00:26:43,580 --> 00:26:48,660 Let's pray. 207 00:26:48,660 --> 00:26:50,440 Father, thank you. 208 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,300 Thank you for hope. 209 00:26:52,300 --> 00:26:53,860 Thank you for grace. 210 00:26:53,860 --> 00:26:55,240 Thank you for strength. 211 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:56,560 Thank you for your church. 212 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:01,080 Thank you for your church, not just here, but throughout the world. 213 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,300 And we ask this morning that you would be with those Christians 214 00:27:05,300 --> 00:27:06,820 who are proclaiming the gospel 215 00:27:06,820 --> 00:27:09,200 in dark and difficult places 216 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:10,480 that you would strengthen them 217 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:11,780 and you would give them courage. 218 00:27:11,780 --> 00:27:13,400 Thank you for Jesus. 219 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:14,780 It's in his name we pray. 220 00:27:14,780 --> 00:27:15,640 Amen. 221 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,480 Jesus ends like this. 222 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,480 For as often as you eat this bread 223 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:21,820 and drink this cup, 224 00:27:21,820 --> 00:27:23,880 you proclaim the Lord's death 225 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:25,280 until he comes. 226 00:27:35,300 --> 00:27:49,060 This morning's reading is from Acts, the 9th chapter, verses 1 through 19. 227 00:27:49,060 --> 00:27:56,260 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, 228 00:27:56,260 --> 00:28:03,400 went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, 229 00:28:03,740 --> 00:28:09,180 so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, 230 00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:12,660 he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 231 00:28:12,660 --> 00:28:18,400 Now as he went on his way, he approached Domestics, 232 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:23,260 and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, 233 00:28:23,260 --> 00:28:27,180 and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 234 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:34,640 Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 235 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:39,060 And he said, Who are you, Lord? 236 00:28:39,060 --> 00:28:46,360 And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 237 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,580 But rise and enter the city. 238 00:28:49,580 --> 00:28:53,340 You will be told what you are to do. 239 00:28:53,340 --> 00:28:57,320 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, 240 00:28:58,220 --> 00:29:07,460 Hearing the voice, but seeing no one, Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. 241 00:29:07,460 --> 00:29:18,740 And they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and for three days he went without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 242 00:29:18,740 --> 00:29:24,200 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. 243 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:33,640 The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and Ananias said, Here I am, Lord. 244 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:42,020 And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house 245 00:29:42,020 --> 00:29:46,180 of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. 246 00:29:46,180 --> 00:29:54,660 For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in, 247 00:29:54,840 --> 00:30:00,020 and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. 248 00:30:00,020 --> 00:30:07,720 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, 249 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:12,460 how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem, 250 00:30:12,460 --> 00:30:18,840 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. 251 00:30:19,620 --> 00:30:28,500 But the Lord said to Ananias, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name 252 00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:37,220 before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he 253 00:30:37,220 --> 00:30:39,920 must suffer for the sake of my name. 254 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:48,460 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on Paul, he said, Brother 255 00:30:48,460 --> 00:30:56,860 Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you in the road by which you came, has sent me so 256 00:30:56,860 --> 00:31:01,000 that you may migraine your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 257 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:08,540 And immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he regained his sight. 258 00:31:08,540 --> 00:31:15,220 Then he rose and was baptized, and taking food, he was strengthened. 259 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:21,340 For some days Saul was with the disciples in Damascus. 260 00:31:21,340 --> 00:31:24,040 This is the word of the Lord. 261 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:36,040 All right, as we have journeyed through Acts, 262 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:41,020 we've seen the promises of Jesus that the gospel would go, 263 00:31:41,020 --> 00:31:44,460 not just in Jerusalem and not just in Judea, 264 00:31:44,460 --> 00:31:47,020 but to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 265 00:31:47,020 --> 00:31:49,860 We have seen how God equips the church, 266 00:31:49,860 --> 00:31:55,940 how the church is under attack both from outside of the church 267 00:31:55,940 --> 00:31:59,460 and within the church with stories like Ananias and Sapphira 268 00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:00,900 and Simon the sorcerer. 269 00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:05,100 And this morning we come to the conversion of Saul 270 00:32:05,100 --> 00:32:09,000 who will later become known as Paul the Apostle. 271 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,960 So we'll pray and we'll dive right into it this morning. 272 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,440 Father in heaven, thank you for your church and for your word. 273 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,100 We thank you for how you have equipped your church. 274 00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:24,040 We thank you for how throughout history you have been at work in your church 275 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,060 and in different ways giving us exactly what we need. 276 00:32:28,060 --> 00:32:33,940 So help us this morning as we look at the life of the Apostle Paul. 277 00:32:33,940 --> 00:32:37,400 We see how you have changed and transformed him. 278 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,580 And we see the promise of hope for all of us. 279 00:32:41,580 --> 00:32:43,920 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 280 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:51,280 So it's really easy for us to take some of the conveniences of our modern life for granted. 281 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:57,900 So yesterday afternoon, we had run around a bunch of places yesterday and done a bunch of errands, 282 00:32:57,900 --> 00:33:05,020 and I was falling asleep, laying on the couch, and I hear this giant boom, and then the house just goes quiet. 283 00:33:05,020 --> 00:33:08,940 And I yelled at her, Rachel, I think the power just went out. 284 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:14,580 And sure enough, in kind of the warmest part of the afternoon, the air conditioner was stopped, 285 00:33:14,580 --> 00:33:20,660 the fish tank had stopped, the fan had stopped, the lights had stopped, and thankfully it was 286 00:33:20,660 --> 00:33:25,280 restored. It was just an hour or two. But it's one of those things that we don't think about 287 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:31,200 very often until we don't have it. The remarkable fact that we can walk into a room, turn on a 288 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,600 switch, and all of a sudden there's light. Or we can walk over to our wall and push a button, 289 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,200 and our house gets colder or warmer. 290 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,840 And we don't think about the wonder of those things 291 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,860 and the remarkable things that we have 292 00:33:44,860 --> 00:33:47,060 until they don't work or they're not there. 293 00:33:47,060 --> 00:33:50,300 And when it comes to the conversion of Saul, 294 00:33:50,300 --> 00:33:51,780 who will become the Apostle Paul, 295 00:33:51,780 --> 00:33:53,760 one of the things for those of us 296 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:55,280 who have been in the church for a while, 297 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,020 this is a familiar story. 298 00:33:57,020 --> 00:33:59,640 We know about Paul's journey to Damascus. 299 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,620 We know about his encounter with Jesus on the road. 300 00:34:02,620 --> 00:34:04,480 We know what happens next. 301 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:09,660 And for many of us, we treat this story kind of like we treat it electricity, right? 302 00:34:09,660 --> 00:34:11,720 We just sort of take it for granted. 303 00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:16,640 So this morning, as we look at what happens to Saul, 304 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,300 and I'll probably jump back and forth between Saul and Paul, 305 00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:23,240 because we mostly think of him as Paul, but at this point he's still Saul. 306 00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:28,380 There is a tendency for those of us who are Christians to become dull 307 00:34:28,380 --> 00:34:34,120 to the wondrous power of God to transform lives. 308 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:39,060 And so I hope we see that as we look for hope in the story of Paul. 309 00:34:39,060 --> 00:34:44,020 And so as Acts chapter 9 begins, it begins with a startling contrast. 310 00:34:44,020 --> 00:34:48,060 If you remember, Acts chapter 8 has been primarily all about Philip. 311 00:34:48,060 --> 00:34:53,700 And he's a deacon in the church, and as persecution arises, he runs away from Jerusalem. 312 00:34:53,700 --> 00:34:55,940 But he doesn't sort of go empty-handed. 313 00:34:55,940 --> 00:34:58,380 He goes with his hands full of the gospel. 314 00:34:58,380 --> 00:35:01,380 And where he goes, he proclaims the gospel. 315 00:35:01,380 --> 00:35:07,020 And he goes to Samaria and he teaches them about Jesus and a church is started. 316 00:35:07,020 --> 00:35:13,300 And while he's there ministering in Samaria, the Holy Spirit says, hey, I want you to go to this deserted road. 317 00:35:13,300 --> 00:35:21,280 And along this road is an Ethiopian and he's riding along in his chariot and he's reading the Bible and he's spiritually searching. 318 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,400 And what God does is he says to Philip, go to the chariot. 319 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,600 He goes, hey, do you understand what you're reading? 320 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:28,420 The guy says, no. 321 00:35:28,420 --> 00:35:30,940 And so Philip says, well, let me tell you about Jesus. 322 00:35:31,380 --> 00:35:33,660 And he tells this guy about Jesus. 323 00:35:33,660 --> 00:35:35,660 The guy believes in Jesus. 324 00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:37,520 He goes down and the water is baptized. 325 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:40,760 And Philip disappears and finds himself. 326 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:42,480 And Acts chapter 8 ends like this. 327 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,660 Philip found himself in Azotus. 328 00:35:44,660 --> 00:35:49,480 And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 329 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,900 So he starts by preaching in Samaria, preaches on the desert road to the Ethiopian. 330 00:35:54,900 --> 00:35:58,060 God moves him and then he just continues preaching. 331 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,280 And then you get to Acts chapter 9, and there's this startling contrast. 332 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:03,620 Listen to how it begins. 333 00:36:03,620 --> 00:36:12,460 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest. 334 00:36:12,460 --> 00:36:19,860 So on one hand, in Acts chapter 8, you have the gospel going to the ends of the earth through Philip to Samaria, 335 00:36:19,860 --> 00:36:21,800 and then to the ends of the earth through the Ethiopian. 336 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,300 And as he goes, he tells everybody about the gospel. 337 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:29,120 And then you're met with Saul, who is seeking to do the opposite. 338 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,500 He wants to bring the gospel back from the ends of the earth 339 00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:36,740 and kill those who are declaring the gospel. 340 00:36:36,740 --> 00:36:39,800 And so before we talk about what happens to Saul, 341 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,480 I want to introduce you just a little bit to him. 342 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,700 So he's from a place named Tarsus. 343 00:36:46,700 --> 00:36:49,340 And as part of his upbringing, 344 00:36:49,340 --> 00:36:53,940 Saul of Tarsus would have learned to trade as a young man 345 00:36:53,940 --> 00:36:59,860 with his father. And the trade that he learns, one of the things that Tarsus is known for is 346 00:36:59,860 --> 00:37:09,320 weaving in fabric, and he learns to make tents. And so by trade, he's a tent maker. By birth, 347 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:15,060 he's a Roman citizen. And this is a big deal because Roman citizens are afforded different 348 00:37:15,060 --> 00:37:22,160 rights and privileges and a higher status. So he's a tent maker by trade. He's a Roman citizen 349 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:28,860 by birth, and his religion is that he is Jewish, but more than that, he's part of the sort 350 00:37:28,860 --> 00:37:31,860 of most conservative sect of Judaism. 351 00:37:31,860 --> 00:37:33,700 He is a Pharisee. 352 00:37:33,700 --> 00:37:35,220 He'll say this about his life. 353 00:37:35,220 --> 00:37:40,700 My manner of life for my youth spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem 354 00:37:40,700 --> 00:37:42,400 is known by all the Jews. 355 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:47,720 They have known for a long time, and if they are willing to testify according to the strictest 356 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:51,260 party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. 357 00:37:51,500 --> 00:37:56,680 Now, Pharisees were a group that began to sort of take the word of God seriously. 358 00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:01,440 They looked at what was happening in the beginning of the first century with the Jewish faith 359 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,280 and says, we need to go back to what God says. 360 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,680 And we know ultimately that gets transformed into legalism, 361 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:12,660 ultimately involving this conflict with Jesus where they put him to death. 362 00:38:12,660 --> 00:38:18,000 But Paul was one of the most conservative Scripture guys of his day. 363 00:38:18,860 --> 00:38:24,540 So, by trade, a tent maker, by birth, a Roman citizen, by religion, a Jewish Pharisee. 364 00:38:24,540 --> 00:38:29,440 But more than that, he's not just sort of a casual interest in Judaism. 365 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,680 He is sent to Jerusalem, likely by his family, 366 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:37,740 to learn at the feet of one of the greatest Jewish teachers of the day, Gamaliel. 367 00:38:37,740 --> 00:38:43,840 And he learns and memorizes, likely, much of the Torah. 368 00:38:45,700 --> 00:38:53,220 Paul is also, or Saul, is also filled with a zeal to destroy the church. 369 00:38:53,220 --> 00:38:56,560 We met him first in Acts chapter 7, verse 58. 370 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,840 They cast him out of the city and stoned him, speaking of Stephen. 371 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:04,840 And the witnesses lay down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 372 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:09,420 And the picture of Saul as Stephen is being murdered for his faith 373 00:39:09,420 --> 00:39:11,860 is the fact that he's in a position of authority, 374 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,260 that he's watching the cloaks and giving approval to what is happening. 375 00:39:16,260 --> 00:39:23,560 And in chapter 9, but Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, 376 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,200 went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, 377 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:34,040 so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 378 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,860 And that word breathing threats, it's not just that he's speaking threats. 379 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:44,320 It's literally the air that fills his lungs is hatred for the church. 380 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,500 This is not just a guy who is a little annoyed by Christians. 381 00:39:48,500 --> 00:39:55,980 This is a guy who wants to go round him up, tie him up, drag him 150 miles back to Jerusalem 382 00:39:55,980 --> 00:40:00,400 and prosecute them, maybe even ending in their demise. 383 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,780 In Acts 22, Paul will say this, 384 00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:10,880 I persecuted the way to death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women. 385 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:13,520 In Acts 26, he'll say, 386 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:18,160 I was convinced I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth, 387 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,020 and I did so in Jerusalem. 388 00:40:20,020 --> 00:40:26,340 I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving the authority from the chief priest, 389 00:40:26,340 --> 00:40:31,240 but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them, 390 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:33,940 And I punished them often in all the synagogues. 391 00:40:33,940 --> 00:40:35,580 And I tried to make them blaspheme. 392 00:40:35,580 --> 00:40:41,400 And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to a foreign city. 393 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,960 So Paul isn't just annoyed at the church. 394 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,340 There's things we find annoying. 395 00:40:46,340 --> 00:40:52,280 For me this week, it was the fireworks at 2 a.m. that woke up all our kids and made our dogs. 396 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,240 I love fireworks as much as the next guy. 397 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:58,080 But 2 a.m. with a sleeping two-year-old, that's annoying. 398 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:00,520 He's not just annoyed. 399 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,300 He is ready to kill Christians. 400 00:41:05,300 --> 00:41:07,000 He says it. 401 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,880 He says, I cast my vote that they would be put to death. 402 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:23,840 So Saul, taint maker by trade, Roman citizen by birth, Jewish, a Pharisee, educated in the best school of his day, 403 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:30,120 breathing threats and sustaining hatred for the church. 404 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,100 So he heads to Damascus. 405 00:41:34,100 --> 00:41:37,240 And what he does is he gathers his sort of goon squad. 406 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:41,000 We find from the text that he's not just by himself, but he has some backup. 407 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,000 He has the legal authority from the chief priest's letter, 408 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,520 so he would be able to go into the synagogues and say, 409 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:50,400 point me to the Christians, here's my letter, we're ready to arrest them, 410 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:51,600 we're ready to drag them out. 411 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,840 And they journey probably likely around 150 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus, 412 00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,380 depending on the way in which they travel. 413 00:41:58,940 --> 00:42:02,620 And for our day, that's not very much, maybe two and a half hours by car. 414 00:42:02,620 --> 00:42:05,800 But for him, it would have taken a minimum of a week. 415 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,540 So this guy is dedicated, right? 416 00:42:07,540 --> 00:42:10,340 He's not just saying, I don't like Christians in my city, 417 00:42:10,340 --> 00:42:13,780 but here's a city that takes me a week and a half to get there, 418 00:42:13,780 --> 00:42:16,200 and I have to walk, and I'm going to go there, 419 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,140 and I'm going to get them, and I'm going to bring them back, 420 00:42:18,140 --> 00:42:21,160 and I'm going to teach them a lesson about following Jesus. 421 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:27,100 And what we find is sometimes you and I encounter events in life 422 00:42:27,100 --> 00:42:28,960 that turn our world upside down. 423 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,200 I remember one of those for me. 424 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:37,700 Some of you know that I really like the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. 425 00:42:37,700 --> 00:42:41,360 And so Martin Luther had never really planned to get married, 426 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,540 and eventually he does get married, and he'll say this, 427 00:42:44,540 --> 00:42:48,040 there's a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage. 428 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:51,760 One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow 429 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:53,420 that were not there before. 430 00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:59,680 And I remember when Rachel and I got married, thinking, you know, not that big a deal. 431 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:06,340 We get married, and all of a sudden I realize that we're difficult people to live with, right? 432 00:43:06,340 --> 00:43:10,000 It's not easy, because we're both really independent. 433 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,320 We've been really independent for a long time. 434 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:17,440 And it really came to a head because I had the house, my house, the way I liked it, right? 435 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:23,700 and now there's somebody moving my couch, and she's painting my walls, and she's tearing walls 436 00:43:23,700 --> 00:43:31,860 out of my kitchen, and I can't find my valuable stuff that I love. And then, the worst thing she 437 00:43:31,860 --> 00:43:37,980 could have ever done. She's like, I'm going to Goodwill, and I got a box of your books. 438 00:43:37,980 --> 00:43:43,180 If you know me, I love books. And I was like, oh, no, no, no. And she's like, well, you're not 439 00:43:43,180 --> 00:43:47,160 reading them right now. And I looked at her, and I said, well, you're not eating at the kitchen 440 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:55,560 table right now. Should I take that to goodwill too? It was difficult. In that moment where we 441 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:59,220 stood in front of the church and got married, it turned my world in a lot of ways upside down. 442 00:43:59,220 --> 00:44:07,300 Now the Apostle Paul is about to experience that, but times a million. Everything that he thought 443 00:44:07,300 --> 00:44:12,620 he had figured out, everything that he had done his whole life, all those patterns that he had 444 00:44:12,620 --> 00:44:19,580 developed and how he lived is about to get turned completely upside down by Jesus. 445 00:44:19,580 --> 00:44:26,180 Now, as he was on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, 446 00:44:26,180 --> 00:44:31,080 and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 447 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:37,900 And he goes, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus who you are persecuting, but rise and enter 448 00:44:37,900 --> 00:44:42,440 the city, you'll be told what to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, 449 00:44:43,240 --> 00:44:44,940 hearing the voice, but seeing no one. 450 00:44:44,940 --> 00:44:48,660 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. 451 00:44:48,660 --> 00:44:51,460 They led him by the hand, brought him into Damascus, 452 00:44:51,460 --> 00:44:54,960 and for three days he was without sight, and he neither ate nor drank. 453 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,220 You ever wonder why God does it this way? 454 00:44:58,220 --> 00:45:02,820 Why God gets Saul's attention by literally knocking him to the ground 455 00:45:02,820 --> 00:45:06,680 and making him blind and turning his world upside down in this manner? 456 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:10,520 It's because this is what it takes to get Saul's attention. 457 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:15,600 God works in our lives in the ways in which we hear. 458 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:21,400 So for the Ethiopian in chapter 8, that was through the prophet Isaiah and the testimony of Philip. 459 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:25,540 But Paul, like a lot of us, is a little more hard-headed. 460 00:45:25,540 --> 00:45:31,840 And God has to come in and hit him over the head and knock him to the ground to get his attention. 461 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:33,140 And that's what God does. 462 00:45:33,140 --> 00:45:35,740 And God uses those events. 463 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:41,780 Sometimes some of us come to Christ through the testimony of Scripture 464 00:45:41,780 --> 00:45:44,500 and somebody who witnesses to us sort of in a quiet way. 465 00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:48,820 And for others, it's when our world gets knocked out from under us 466 00:45:48,820 --> 00:45:52,780 and turned upside down, and we see the invitation of the gospel 467 00:45:52,780 --> 00:45:56,540 to come to the one who heals our hurts. 468 00:45:56,540 --> 00:46:00,740 And so Paul, the world is turned upside down. 469 00:46:00,740 --> 00:46:04,340 Everything that he devoted himself to, the very air in his lungs, 470 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:09,100 breathing out threats, is all of a sudden finds out that Jesus is the Son of God, 471 00:46:09,100 --> 00:46:16,320 the promised Messiah, and you can see it in his emotions as he doesn't eat or drink for three days. 472 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:20,340 Right? Rachel alluded earlier that I get grumpy when I'm hungry. 473 00:46:20,340 --> 00:46:22,780 Three days. 474 00:46:22,780 --> 00:46:29,800 He's so, I think his world is so turned upside down that he doesn't even think about it, right? 475 00:46:30,460 --> 00:46:39,760 We know that he's praying, I think repenting, broken by what he has learned about God. 476 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,540 And God doesn't leave him in that broken state. 477 00:46:43,540 --> 00:46:44,340 That's what I love. 478 00:46:44,340 --> 00:46:46,680 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. 479 00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:50,160 The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here I am, Lord. 480 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:54,620 And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called Straight. 481 00:46:54,620 --> 00:46:57,800 And in the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. 482 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:02,060 For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in 483 00:47:02,060 --> 00:47:05,040 and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight. 484 00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:10,520 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many things about this man 485 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:13,900 and how much evil he has done at your saints in Jerusalem. 486 00:47:13,900 --> 00:47:18,700 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. 487 00:47:18,700 --> 00:47:21,680 But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine 488 00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:26,640 to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel. 489 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:30,880 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. 490 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:32,880 So Ananias departed, entered the house. 491 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,840 Laying his hands on him, he said, 492 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:41,000 Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road which you came has sent me 493 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:43,480 so you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 494 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,180 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, regaining his sight. 495 00:47:47,180 --> 00:47:51,320 He arose and was baptized and taking food he was strengthened. 496 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:53,320 So can you imagine the surprise of Ananias? 497 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:57,660 God says, hey, I've got somebody that you need to talk to about Jesus. 498 00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,360 And I imagine Ananias says, great, who is it? 499 00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:02,480 And he says, it's Saul of Tarsus. 500 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:04,900 And Ananias goes, that guy? 501 00:48:04,900 --> 00:48:08,720 I have heard nothing good about him, right? 502 00:48:08,720 --> 00:48:10,580 I don't want him. 503 00:48:10,580 --> 00:48:12,560 He's not a good guy. 504 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:13,840 And God says, go. 505 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:15,100 He's praying. 506 00:48:15,100 --> 00:48:16,940 He's expecting you. 507 00:48:16,940 --> 00:48:24,680 And so Ananias, in obedience to God, goes to have the hard conversation with the guy who he thinks wants him dead. 508 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:27,500 And do you notice how Ananias approaches him? 509 00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:33,260 He doesn't come in in anger going, man, you've really messed up, Saul. 510 00:48:33,260 --> 00:48:38,300 You've really, really attacked the church of the almighty God. 511 00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:39,100 But what does he say? 512 00:48:39,100 --> 00:48:41,080 He comes in, he lays his hand on him. 513 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,240 I don't think it's kind of like at a distance where he sort of touches him. 514 00:48:44,240 --> 00:48:47,560 Lays his hand on him and he says, brother Saul. 515 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:49,800 Isn't that wonderful? 516 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:55,700 The grace we see from God pouring out through the life of Ananias. 517 00:48:56,700 --> 00:49:02,920 And so Saul, seeing and hearing about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, 518 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:06,440 the good news of the gospel, that Jesus died in his place for his sins, 519 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:09,280 rose again for his victory, is baptized. 520 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:16,980 Romans 6 tells us, buried, sins are gone, rose again. 521 00:49:16,980 --> 00:49:21,860 This beautiful picture of the gospel exhibited in the life of Paul. 522 00:49:23,620 --> 00:49:26,900 And then what do you find the Apostle Paul doing? 523 00:49:26,900 --> 00:49:33,640 Over the rest of his life, he'll start something like 14, some people say as many as 20 churches. 524 00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:38,040 He writes 13 out of 27 books of the New Testament. 525 00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:44,340 And ultimately, he will die for the same Jesus that he persecuted. 526 00:49:44,340 --> 00:49:52,820 So what I want us to see this morning, as we look at Paul, is I want us to see that there is hope. 527 00:49:53,420 --> 00:49:57,700 And one of the things that the conversion of Paul teaches those of us who are in the church 528 00:49:57,700 --> 00:50:01,300 is that there is no one who is without hope. 529 00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:09,580 There's a tendency for some of us to think that there are others who are beyond the grace of God. 530 00:50:09,580 --> 00:50:13,460 And we think, well, they're too far gone. 531 00:50:13,460 --> 00:50:14,880 There's not any hope. 532 00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:19,680 But what you see in Paul, the persecutor turned preacher, 533 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:23,020 that there is hope. 534 00:50:23,420 --> 00:50:29,440 You see, the conversion of Paul addresses this attitude that you and I have in the church, 535 00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:31,400 that there are some that are hopeless. 536 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:37,340 And what it says to us in the church is that there is nobody beyond the grace of God. 537 00:50:37,340 --> 00:50:41,840 That family member that you love deeply and want to see them respond to the gospel. 538 00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,780 That neighbor that you love deeply and want to see them respond to the gospel. 539 00:50:45,780 --> 00:50:49,700 That friend that you love deeply and want to see respond to the gospel. 540 00:50:49,700 --> 00:50:53,340 What this teaches us is there is no one beyond hope. 541 00:50:53,420 --> 00:50:56,200 No matter how hopeless it looks from our perspective. 542 00:50:56,200 --> 00:51:01,680 Because I imagine the church looks at Saul and they never had an inkling that he would be a Christian. 543 00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:03,440 But what happens? 544 00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:06,780 He plants church after church after church. 545 00:51:06,780 --> 00:51:09,580 He writes book after book of the Bible. 546 00:51:09,580 --> 00:51:11,360 There is no one without hope. 547 00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:18,120 But Paul's conversion is also an invitation to those who are outside of Christ. 548 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:24,280 What he is saying to you, the Apostle Paul, is that you are not without hope. 549 00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:31,060 When you look at your life, and we all do this, and we look at our brokenness, and we look at our mistakes, 550 00:51:31,060 --> 00:51:38,020 and we say, how could God, the Almighty God, creator of the universe, how could he love me? 551 00:51:38,020 --> 00:51:44,220 The testimony of Paul is that in that we find hope that God does love us. 552 00:51:44,220 --> 00:51:47,700 That there is no one. You are not without hope. 553 00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:51,520 You are not without love from the creator of the universe. 554 00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:59,460 And then Paul gives us hope that God uses all of the events of our life 555 00:51:59,460 --> 00:52:03,140 and all of the events of our past for the good of the gospel. 556 00:52:03,140 --> 00:52:07,140 So you remember how he started with that list of things about Saul? 557 00:52:07,140 --> 00:52:10,940 And we started by saying he was a tent maker by trade. 558 00:52:10,940 --> 00:52:12,960 God uses that. 559 00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:16,760 In Acts chapter 18, you find Paul planning churches. 560 00:52:16,860 --> 00:52:18,960 And what is he doing to support himself as he plants churches? 561 00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:19,680 He makes tents. 562 00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:25,400 God uses his simple physical occupation to spread the gospel. 563 00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:29,220 Remember we said Paul was a citizen of Rome? 564 00:52:29,220 --> 00:52:35,040 Several times during his ministry, Paul finds himself in trouble with the Roman authorities. 565 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:37,000 And do you know what he says? 566 00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:38,920 I'm a Roman citizen. 567 00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:40,880 And they say, we're sorry, sir. 568 00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:42,080 You're free to go. 569 00:52:43,420 --> 00:52:48,020 God uses his very citizenship to proclaim the gospel. 570 00:52:48,020 --> 00:52:52,320 God uses his religious upbringing and education. 571 00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:56,000 The time as a Pharisee that he studied and memorized the law. 572 00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,360 The time that he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. 573 00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:01,360 And so when Paul goes to a new town, he walks into a synagogue. 574 00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:05,400 And because he was Jewish, he was able to speak to them. 575 00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:09,040 And because he had studied and memorized the word of God, 576 00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:19,740 He was able to proclaim it clearly that God uses his trade, he uses his citizenship, and he uses his history in the Jewish faith to proclaim the gospel. 577 00:53:19,740 --> 00:53:21,260 You say, well, those are all good things. 578 00:53:21,260 --> 00:53:25,040 There's a big chunk of Paul's life that wasn't good. 579 00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:31,820 How can God use the part of my life that's broken and filled with hurt and that I'm ashamed of? 580 00:53:31,820 --> 00:53:32,960 How can God use that? 581 00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:34,180 Look at the Apostle Paul. 582 00:53:34,180 --> 00:53:37,620 God uses his brokenness. 583 00:53:38,220 --> 00:53:40,840 In 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul will say this, 584 00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:44,520 the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, 585 00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:48,100 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, 586 00:53:48,100 --> 00:53:50,880 of whom I am the foremost. 587 00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:53,380 But I received mercy for this reason. 588 00:53:53,380 --> 00:53:55,100 Paul says, you want to know why Jesus saved me? 589 00:53:55,100 --> 00:53:56,080 Here's why. 590 00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:59,480 That in me, as the foremost sinner, 591 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:03,800 Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience 592 00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:08,060 as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. 593 00:54:08,220 --> 00:54:14,160 Paul says, one of the reasons that Jesus saved me is so that you would look at my life and say, 594 00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:16,180 if God can save him, he can save me. 595 00:54:16,180 --> 00:54:21,280 If God can deal with the brokenness of the life of the Apostle Paul, 596 00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:24,960 who opposes, imprisons, and kills Christians, 597 00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:31,560 then he can take my brokenness, and he can save me, and he can forgive me, and he can give me hope. 598 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:35,840 And so notice how God doesn't just use the good things. 599 00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:38,220 Paul's citizenship and his trade and his education, 600 00:54:38,220 --> 00:54:40,920 but he uses the brokenness of his life 601 00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:41,920 for the good news of the gospel. 602 00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:43,560 And I'll tell you what this morning, 603 00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:46,420 God uses the good things that he's given you, 604 00:54:46,420 --> 00:54:49,460 but he also uses your brokenness 605 00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:50,520 for the good news of the gospel. 606 00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:51,500 You see, there's hope. 607 00:54:51,500 --> 00:54:53,600 And as a church, 608 00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:57,440 as we pray for those who we want to see the gospel, 609 00:54:57,440 --> 00:54:58,680 we realize that there is hope. 610 00:54:58,680 --> 00:55:01,500 And if you are not a Christian, 611 00:55:01,500 --> 00:55:04,360 look at the Apostle Paul 612 00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:05,980 and see that there is hope 613 00:55:05,980 --> 00:55:08,000 and as you look at your life 614 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,320 both the good and the brokenness 615 00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:13,200 see that God can take those things 616 00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:16,040 and through his strength and his power 617 00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:17,360 and the power of the gospel 618 00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:20,040 he can bring hope into your life 619 00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:22,720 and hope into this world 620 00:55:22,720 --> 00:55:25,220 God uses the brokenness of Saul 621 00:55:25,220 --> 00:55:27,940 to say to us that God welcomes you 622 00:55:27,940 --> 00:55:28,940 God saves you 623 00:55:28,940 --> 00:55:31,940 and your sin is not too great 624 00:55:31,940 --> 00:55:33,160 to be forgiven 625 00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:33,740 let's pray 626 00:55:33,740 --> 00:55:42,780 father thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope thank you for saul who becomes Paul 627 00:55:42,780 --> 00:55:52,780 that you change his life so much that we even change his name that you would encourage us with 628 00:55:52,780 --> 00:55:59,300 hope strengthen us with hope and call us to yourself with hope it's in Jesus name we pray 629 00:55:59,300 --> 00:56:00,040 Amen 630 00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:04,120 Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation 631 00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,060 Fittingly we're going to sing 632 00:56:06,060 --> 00:56:07,080 Living Hope 633 00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:23,960 How great the chasm 634 00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:27,540 That lay between us 635 00:56:27,540 --> 00:56:33,260 How high the mountain I could not climb 636 00:56:33,260 --> 00:56:40,580 In desperation I turned to heaven 637 00:56:40,580 --> 00:56:46,340 And spoke your name into the night 638 00:56:46,340 --> 00:56:50,440 Then through the darkness 639 00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:54,000 Your loving kindness 640 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:59,980 Tore through the shadows of my soul 641 00:56:59,980 --> 00:57:04,160 The work is finished 642 00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:07,280 The end is written 643 00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:13,360 Jesus Christ, my living hope 644 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:20,420 Who could imagine 645 00:57:20,420 --> 00:57:23,920 So great a mercy 646 00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:30,060 What heart could fathom such boundless grace 647 00:57:30,060 --> 00:57:37,200 The God of ages stepped down from glory 648 00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:43,360 To wear my sin and bear my shame 649 00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:50,340 The cross has spoken, I am forgiven 650 00:57:50,340 --> 00:57:56,700 The King of Kings calls me His own 651 00:57:56,700 --> 00:58:03,700 Beautiful Savior, I'm Yours forever 652 00:58:03,700 --> 00:58:10,300 Jesus Christ, my living home 653 00:58:10,300 --> 00:58:18,240 Hallelujah, praise the One who sent me free 654 00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:24,900 Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me 655 00:58:24,900 --> 00:58:28,280 You have broken every chain 656 00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,580 There's salvation in your name 657 00:58:31,580 --> 00:58:37,800 Jesus Christ, my living hope 658 00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:47,080 Then came the morning that sealed the promise 659 00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:53,480 Your buried body began to breathe 660 00:58:53,480 --> 00:59:00,560 Out of the silence the roaring lion 661 00:59:00,560 --> 00:59:06,760 Declared the grave has no claim on me 662 00:59:06,760 --> 00:59:14,200 Then came the morning that sealed the promise 663 00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:20,240 Your buried body began to breathe 664 00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:27,340 Out of the silence the roaring lion 665 00:59:27,340 --> 00:59:33,580 Declared the grave has no claim on me 666 00:59:33,580 --> 00:59:39,520 Jesus, yours is the victory 667 00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:51,600 Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free 668 00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:58,260 Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me 669 00:59:58,260 --> 01:00:04,940 You have broken every chain, there's salvation in your name 670 01:00:04,940 --> 01:00:11,160 Jesus Christ, my living hope 671 01:00:11,160 --> 01:00:18,280 Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free 672 01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:24,900 Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me 673 01:00:24,900 --> 01:00:28,300 You have broken every chain 674 01:00:28,300 --> 01:00:31,660 There's salvation in your name 675 01:00:31,660 --> 01:00:37,760 Jesus Christ, my living hope 676 01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:44,300 Jesus Christ, my living hope 677 01:00:44,300 --> 01:00:50,360 Oh God, you are my living hope 678 01:00:50,360 --> 01:00:59,960 One of the things that some of the old translations of the Bible translate 679 01:00:59,960 --> 01:01:04,060 when they talk about living hope is they will say, a lively hope. 680 01:01:04,540 --> 01:01:09,300 And I always think of our pups, when we let them outside after they've been inside for a while, 681 01:01:09,300 --> 01:01:12,260 and they're bounding around the yard just full of excitement. 682 01:01:12,260 --> 01:01:20,360 The hope that God has given us, his people, is not just simply a hope, but it's a lively hope. 683 01:01:20,360 --> 01:01:25,880 It's a hope that fills us with joy and energizes us for work in the kingdom. 684 01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:31,780 So we are very glad that you are here with us today as we see the hope in the conversion of Saul. 685 01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:35,000 We're thankful that you joined us, whether you're here or you're online. 686 01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:37,300 We will be back Wednesday night. 687 01:01:37,300 --> 01:01:39,480 We're going through the prayers of Paul. 688 01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:42,420 And so we meet here at 7 p.m., and we're upstairs, 689 01:01:42,420 --> 01:01:47,000 and we're studying through and learning together from Paul 690 01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:50,000 and how he prayed in terms of his priorities in prayer 691 01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:51,520 and how he puts his prayers together. 692 01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:54,100 And it's an encouraging time. 693 01:01:54,100 --> 01:01:56,100 There's some study guides on the information table 694 01:01:56,100 --> 01:01:58,100 if you would like to grab one. 695 01:01:58,740 --> 01:02:03,460 Also, this week we have, I'll send out the link on Tuesday, 696 01:02:03,460 --> 01:02:07,220 but we have found a way to put some of the sessions online 697 01:02:07,220 --> 01:02:09,160 because we sort of discuss the Scripture 698 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:11,780 and then we watch maybe about a little 10-minute video 699 01:02:11,780 --> 01:02:15,340 and then we discuss it some more. 700 01:02:15,340 --> 01:02:17,440 So if you would like to view some of those, 701 01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:21,220 we'll send out the information on how to do that this week. 702 01:02:21,220 --> 01:02:24,340 So that's Wednesday night, 7 p.m. with the prayers of Paul 703 01:02:24,340 --> 01:02:25,560 and we'll be back next Sunday, 704 01:02:25,980 --> 01:02:28,840 continuing on through the book of Acts. 705 01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:29,600 So I'm going to pray. 706 01:02:29,600 --> 01:02:32,080 I'm going to read the Scripture, 707 01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:34,500 and then we'll sing together the doxology. 708 01:02:34,500 --> 01:02:37,020 Father in heaven, thank you for hope. 709 01:02:37,020 --> 01:02:38,860 Thank you that we have a lively hope 710 01:02:38,860 --> 01:02:43,700 that in the darkest times you give us strength, 711 01:02:43,700 --> 01:02:46,500 you give us peace, and you give us a future. 712 01:02:46,500 --> 01:02:48,960 Thank you for Jesus and for grace, 713 01:02:48,960 --> 01:02:51,020 and it's in his name we pray. Amen. 714 01:02:51,020 --> 01:02:53,440 At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, 715 01:02:53,680 --> 01:02:57,380 As Paul has been unpacking the good news of the gospel, 716 01:02:57,380 --> 01:03:00,780 specifically the resurrection and the hope we have there, 717 01:03:00,780 --> 01:03:01,720 he will say this, 718 01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:05,300 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, 719 01:03:05,300 --> 01:03:09,780 but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 720 01:03:09,780 --> 01:03:11,360 And then he says this, 721 01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:16,060 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, 722 01:03:16,060 --> 01:03:18,620 always abounding in the work of the Lord, 723 01:03:18,620 --> 01:03:22,280 knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 724 01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:23,460 Let's sing the doxology. 725 01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:37,580 Praise God from whom all blessings flow 726 01:03:37,580 --> 01:03:42,700 Praise Him all creatures here below 727 01:03:42,700 --> 01:03:48,520 Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts 728 01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:54,200 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 729 01:04:18,520 --> 01:04:48,500 Thank you. 730 01:04:48,520 --> 01:05:18,500 Thank you. 731 01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:48,500 Thank you.