"The Conversion of Paul"

Good morning, everyone.

In all ages, Christians have found great encouragement

in hearing the testimonies of how other Christians

came to know Christ.

One testimony I frequently call to mind

is that of an early theologian named Justin.

He tells us that he was converted to Christ

because he saw Christian after Christian

being led away to die for the sake of Jesus,

all while staying steadfast in their faith.

And Justin was so amazed, he became a Christian himself.

I frequently remember, too, a certain testimony

of a woman named Nino, a slave woman back in ancient Georgia.

And she converted the royal family of Georgia

through her diligent prayers.

Then there is the testimony of Frumentius.

He was a slave in the royal household of Ethiopia,

but far from becoming embittered against his enslavers,

he shared the gospel with the prince of Ethiopia.

And the prince of Ethiopia believed in the prince of peace,

our dear Jesus.

And from there, the gospel spread to that African country.

I recall, too, a man named Mar-Aba.

He was a zealous persecutor of Christians in ancient Persia.

And one day, after persecuting a Christian,

that Christian forgave him.

And Mar-Aba was stunned.

And he soon became a Christian himself.

Friends, these kinds of testimonies,

they continue in modern times, as you well know.

Richard Wurmbrandt, one of the great heroes

of the 20th century church,

he was a Jewish atheist.

He was highly educated.

But one day, an uneducated farmer

had the audacity to give him a Bible.

Richard had read the Bible many times before,

but this Bible was different,

because as Richard says,

this Bible was given to him in love.

And Richard wept as he read of Jesus,

and he was converted to Christ.

I also often remember the testimony

of a man named Watchman Nee of China.

His mother had recently become a Christian,

and after administering to him

an unjust punishment,

she became convicted of her sin.

She returned and apologized to him.

And Watchman Nee was so amazed

at this Jesus who had transformed his mother

that he became a Christian.

And then he became a leader in the Chinese church.

Nowadays, as you know,

you can often hear testimonies from people

in their own words online.

And unexpectedly, recently,

I encountered one such testimony

when I was listening to the sermons

of Martin Lloyd-Jones,

a famous preacher in the 1950s.

Evidently, a few years back,

an organization had Lloyd-Jones' sermons

digitized and put online.

And when I was browsing through them,

I heard the testimony of the man

who was paid to digitize the sermons.

He was not a Christian,

but they hired him to digitize the sermons anyway,

and a good thing, too,

because by the time he had finished

listening to Lloyd-Jones' sermons,

Lloyd-Jones had led him to Christ.

Sometimes, the online testimonies

that strike you to the heart are anonymous,

and you don't even know who is sharing.

I recall once reading a testimony online

by a woman who said that she became a Christian

in large part because she was working

at a small company which was making job cuts,

and the manager asked all the workers

to vote on who would lose their job.

So they colluded together,

and they all voted for the one Christian

in the office,

and the Christian was let go.

But instead of lashing out,

that Christian threw a goodbye party

and invited all those who had voted against him

and welcomed them joyfully into his home.

And she was amazed.

Friends, there are many things

about these testimonies that encourage us

and that challenge us.

They show the awesome power of the gospel

where people are led to repent of their sins,

to forgive their enemies,

to remain steadfast in the face of death,

to love deeply their neighbors,

to persist in prayer,

and to preach with great conviction.

In fact, Martin Lloyd-Jones,

that famous preacher I mentioned,

after I listened to one of his sermons,

he inspired me to preach this sermon

and to draw material from it.

All the testimonies I've mentioned,

they give different beautiful reasons

for why people convert to Christ.

But in this diversity,

there is one deeper theme

threaded through them all,

and motivating them all.

Despite their differences,

the ultimate reason

why all these people convert to Jesus

is the same.

And in fact, the same reason

is not just present in these testimonies,

but in all testimonies,

including yours and mine.

The ultimate reason

for why we come to Christ

is nothing less than God

stepping into our lives,

God intervening in our hearts

to turn us from our sins

and to welcome us into his kingdom.

And it is the same for everyone, friends.

At the end of the day,

the all-embracing foundational reason

for why we come to Christ

is that God rescued us,

God washed us,

God made us clean,

God forgave us of all our wrongs.

And in his good providence

and in his grace

through his son Jesus,

he restored us.

The foundational reason

why we came to Christ

is not due to us,

but due to God.

And what testimony

can be more encouraging than that?

Friends, with this in mind today,

we read perhaps

the greatest testimony ever given.

We read the testimony

of Saul of Tarsus.

Saul was a murderer.

He persecuted the early church.

He assisted in executing Stephen,

the first Christian martyr.

But then as the Bible says,

Jesus intervened in Saul's life.

He appeared to Saul.

He transformed Saul.

He turned him from Saul of Tarsus

into Paul the apostle.

And Paul went on

to preach the gospel for decades.

And he went on to write

many letters of the New Testament.

And I want to encourage you

this morning

that what Jesus did for Saul,

though he was the worst of sinners,

he also does for you,

though you be the worst of sinners.

In fact, Scripture tells us

that Saul's conversion

is an example for us

to follow and to consider.

Paul explains this himself

in his own words

that we heard earlier this service.

He says in his letter to Timothy,

I received mercy for this reason,

that in me,

as the foremost of sinners,

Jesus Christ might display

his perfect patience

as an example

to those

who are to believe in him

for eternal life.

Scripture itself declares

that Paul's testimony

is an example

for all of us who believe.

So this morning,

we will take Paul's testimony

as this very example

as we look to Christ

and as we walk with him

and as we come to him.

Would you join me in prayer?

Father in heaven,

we come to you humbly

and we ask that your Holy Spirit

would be with us,

would empower us

to hear your words

and to see your face,

to be convicted of our sins,

but to feel your loving embrace

of mercy and forgiveness.

Lord, I pray

that your Spirit

would be heavy upon us

with conviction

and with joy.

And we pray this

in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Paul's testimony

is so important

that it's repeated

three times in the Bible.

And this morning,

we will focus

on the third time

Paul gives his testimony.

And this is in the book of Acts,

Acts 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26,

which can be found

on page 879

of your pew Bible.

That's 879.

Acts, chapter 26.

Acts 26 · chapter mention

We'll begin in verse 9.

Paul is standing trial

for his faith in Christ,

and he makes his defense

before King Agrippa

in these words.

He says,

in verse 9,

I myself was convinced

that I ought to do many things

in opposing the name

of Jesus of Nazareth,

and I did so in Jerusalem.

I not only locked up

many of the saints in prison

after receiving authority

from the chief priests,

but when they were put to death,

I cast my vote against them.

I punished them often

in all the synagogues

and tried to make them blaspheme.

And in raging fury against them,

I persecuted them

even to foreign cities.

In this connection,

I journeyed to Damascus

with the authority

and commission

of the chief priests.

At midday, O King,

I saw on the way

a light from heaven

brighter than the sun

that shone around me

and those who journeyed with me.

And when we had all fallen

to the ground,

I heard a voice saying to me

in the Hebrew language,

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

It is hard for you

to kick against the goads.

And I said,

who are you, Lord?

And the Lord said,

I am Jesus,

whom you are persecuting.

But rise and stand upon your feet.

For I have appeared to you

for this purpose,

to appoint you as a servant

and a witness to the things

in which you have seen me

and to those in which

I will appear to you,

delivering you from your people

and from the Gentiles

to whom I am sending you,

to open their eyes

so that they may turn

from darkness to light

and from the power of Satan

and to God

that they may receive

forgiveness of sins

and a place among those

who are sanctified

by faith in me.

Therefore, O King Agrippa,

I was not disobedient

to the heavenly vision,

but declared first

to those in Damascus

and then in Jerusalem

and throughout all

the region of Judea

and also to the Gentiles

that they should repent

and turn to God,

performing deeds

in keeping with their repentance.

When reading this passage,

most people are immediately

struck by the extraordinary things

that happened to Saul of Tarsus.

But our goal this morning

is not to focus

on the miraculous elements

of the story,

the flash of light,

the appearance of Jesus,

the blinding, the healing.

Don't be distracted

by these things.

Because at bottom,

this story is a story

of the normal Christian conversion.

As I said earlier,

Saul became an example to us

about how we all become Christians

and how even after our conversion,

God again and again

intervenes in our lives

to turn us from our sins,

to welcome us into his kingdom,

to wash us and to make us clean,

and to forgive us of all our wrongs.

This morning,

using Saul as an example,

we will walk through his testimony

and we're going to see

five points or stages,

five moments

that we all go through

in our conversion to Christ.

And I should give you fair warning

that the first three of these

can be hard to hear,

but the last two

are glorious beyond words.

Let's begin with stage one.

Paul says in verse nine,

I myself was convinced

that I ought to do many things

in opposing the name

of Jesus of Nazareth,

and I did so in Jerusalem.

I not only locked up

many of the saints in prison

after receiving authority

from the chief priests,

but then when they were put to death,

I cast my vote against them,

and I punished them often

in all the synagogues

and tried to make them blaspheme,

and in raging fury against them,

I persecuted them

even to foreign cities.

This passage describes

what Paul was like

before his conversion.

Paul puts it this way.

He says that before Jesus met him,

he was trying to do many things

that were in opposition

to the name of Jesus of Nazareth,

and he was trying to do many things.

Now, I know many of you

have never tried to persecute Christians

and murder them

like Saul of Tarsus was doing,

but what is important here

is not precisely what Saul was doing,

but why he was doing it.

He says in verse nine,

I was convinced

that I ought to do many things

in opposing the name of Jesus.

A more literal translation is,

I thought to myself

myself that I had to do many things

hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Why was Paul doing

these wicked things in unbelief?

He says he was simply doing

what he thought was best.

He was conducting himself

according to his own estimate

and according to what was good

in his own eyes.

And this is a problem

because it means that

before Saul's conversion,

he was the subject of all things.

God was merely an object

to be manipulated.

Just look at what this quote reveals.

I thought to myself,

I was convinced, Saul says.

Did Saul ask God

what was good?

Was Saul submitting himself

to the will of the Almighty?

No.

I thought to myself, he says.

He came to his own conclusion

about what was good

and what was evil,

what was right

and what was wrong.

He took his course of action

according to what he wanted to do,

not according to what God

wanted him to do.

This is our first point

to consider this morning.

Before we become

a disciple of Christ,

we are all just like Saul was.

We are all self-centered

and self-possessed.

When we are in a state of unbelief,

the world revolves around us.

We are the center of attention.

We do what is right

in our own eyes.

This is how we all were

before Christ.

And this is also

the same struggle we have

when we are backsliding

in our walk with Christ,

when we turn our attention

away from God

and to ourselves.

Then we do not trust in God.

Instead, we trust in ourselves.

We do not look to God

for what we should do.

And instead,

we delight in our own eyes.

For this reason, friends,

we must always ask ourselves,

am I trusting in myself

or am I trusting in God?

And so I ask you,

who is directing your path today?

Are you entrusting yourself to God?

Or are you doing what is right

in your own eyes?

Now, you might say

that you try hard to do good,

that you're very spiritual,

you follow a higher power,

you try to be unselfish,

you follow a particular teaching,

you put your whole life into this,

you do good works.

Yes, perhaps you make mistakes

here and there,

but you're doing your best.

And God can't possibly blame you

for falling short,

especially given how

devotedly spiritual you are.

But Saul of Tarsus,

when he was in a state of unbelief

and self-worship,

he was just as devoted

to spirituality

and to doing what he considered

to be good as any of you.

He tells us,

in his letter to the Galatians,

he says,

you've heard of my former life

in Judaism,

how I persecuted the church

of God violently

and tried to destroy it,

how I was advancing in Judaism

beyond many my own age

among my people.

So extremely zealous was I

for the traditions of my fathers.

But when he who had set me apart

before I was born

and who called me by his grace

was pleased to reveal his son in me

so that I might preach him

among the Gentiles.

Saul was zealous for doing

what he thought was good.

He was zealous for what he thought

was true spirituality.

But in all this,

Saul wasn't trusting in God.

Instead, he was doing

what was right in his own eyes.

And his beliefs and his traditions,

they might have had elements

of truth in them.

In fact, we know that the Judaism

of his day had profound truth,

divinely inspired truth.

But Saul was using these things

to further his own purposes

instead of furthering God's purposes.

And today,

the very same thing happens with us

when we walk in unbelief.

The very same thing happens

when we abandon God

and trust in ourselves.

It happens when we trust

in what we think is good

in our own eyes

and we trust in worldly teachings.

And it can even happen

when we claim to follow

the commands of Christ.

But in reality,

are merely manipulating Christ

for our own ends

and doing what we think is best

on our own terms

and not God's.

This is the first stage

when we are apart from Christ.

We find ourselves

to be worshiping the self.

We're inwardly focused.

We're manipulating God.

And then the second stage

in coming to Christ,

it happens like this.

Paul tells us,

in this connection,

I journeyed to Damascus

with the authority

and commission

of the chief priests.

And at midday,

O King,

I saw on the way

a light from heaven

brighter than the sun

that shone around me

and those who journeyed with me.

And when we had all

fallen to the ground,

I heard a voice saying to me

in the Hebrew language,

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

Friends, the next step

in becoming a disciple of Jesus

has very little to do with you

and your effort.

Saul is on the way to Damascus.

He's journeying there

to do something terrible.

He's plotted this beforehand.

He's already murdered.

He has no problem

murdering again.

In that previous passage,

we read,

Saul already told us

what was going on

in his mind.

I thought to myself

I had to do many things

against Jesus of Nazareth.

He was doing everything

on his own terms.

He was the subject

and God was just

the decoration of his world.

And then due to no effort

of his own,

a flash of light

was around him.

He falls to the ground

and a voice cries out,

Saul, Saul.

And all of a sudden

in this second stage,

Saul of Tarsus

begins to realize something.

He begins to realize

that he is not

the subject of all things.

God is the subject.

God is the center

of all things.

Saul is no longer

the focus.

Saul is no longer

doing the talking.

God is addressing him.

The one who created

all the world

is speaking directly

to him.

Saul, Saul.

And the very same thing

happens to us, friends.

When God intervenes

in our lives,

the very same thing

must happen

if we are to become

a disciple of Jesus.

The outward events,

they may not be

so miraculous,

but at root

they are exactly the same.

You have your thoughts,

your beliefs,

your practices,

you do what is right

in your own eyes,

and then suddenly

it might be a certain hour,

a day, a week,

it might be over many months

or even many years,

but the light of Jesus

appears to you.

The light from his face

is blinding.

The power of his presence

forces you to the ground

and he cries out your name,

Saul, Saul.

And suddenly you find

that you are now no longer

the one who is talking,

you are listening.

God is intervening in your life.

Something is being done to you.

Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ

is not about reforming yourself,

but about God reforming you.

Now you are the object,

God is the subject,

and you start to realize

that most profound

and precious truth

that what really matters

is not what you think of God,

but what God thinks of you.

and he doesn't think very highly

about what you have been doing.

Has Jesus called your name?

Have you been humbled before him?

Or are you still waiting for his power

to come into your life?

If you are waiting,

Scripture declares

that you are waiting

because you still aren't really listening.

For God speaks to all people.

In fact,

Scripture declares

the gospel has already been proclaimed

in many ways to all of us.

He has already spoken to you directly.

He's already come into your life.

In many ways,

he's already appeared to you.

And in this stage,

you realize that you missed it

because at bottom,

you really didn't want to see it.

The same thing, in fact,

happened to Saul of Tarsus.

This was not the first time

Jesus had appeared to Saul.

In fact,

this is not the first time

Jesus had appeared to Saul

in the book of Acts.

We see all this clearly

displayed several chapters earlier

in chapter 7 of the book of Acts

during the story

of the stoning of Stephen.

If we turn there in verse 54,

Luke says this.

He says,

When they had heard Stephen

say these things,

they were enraged

and they ground their teeth at Stephen.

But he,

full of the Holy Spirit,

he gazed into heaven

and he saw the glory of God.

And he saw Jesus

standing at the right hand of God.

And he said,

Behold,

I see the heavens opened

and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out

with a loud voice.

They stopped their ears

and they rushed together at him.

And then they cast him

out of the city

and they stoned him.

And the witnesses

laid down their garments

at the feet of a young man

named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen,

he called out,

Lord Jesus,

receive my spirit.

And falling to his knees,

he cried out again,

Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

And when he had said this,

he fell asleep.

Well, there it is.

Jesus appeared to Stephen

and Saul was right there.

And Saul didn't see Jesus

because Saul was too busy

thinking about all the things

that he should do against Jesus.

Saul didn't hear Jesus

because Scripture says

he stopped his ears.

Saul was too caught up

in his sin to notice.

He was too full of himself.

He was not really listening

and he was not really looking.

My brothers and sisters,

all these points I'm making

about Saul of Tarsus

and his conversion

may be interesting

from a historical point of view,

but they won't help you at all

unless you answer this question.

Are you listening

for the voice of Jesus?

Are you looking for his face?

How many times has he appeared

to you already

and you missed him?

How often has he called your name

and you did not hear

because you were not listening

because you were so focused

on yourself and your sins?

He stands at the door and knocks.

Will you let him in?

Friends, we've seen two stages thus far

when we are converted to Christ.

First, we're in unbelief

and self-worship.

And secondly,

God begins to intervene

in our lives

and we begin to realize

that he is what matters,

not us.

And then if you're ready,

the third stage

in coming to Christ

proceeds like this.

When Jesus appeared

and he cried out,

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

Then in verse 15

of Acts chapter 26,

Acts 26 · chapter mention

Saul replies,

who are you,

Lord?

And the Lord said,

I am Jesus

whom you are persecuting.

In this third stage,

Saul begins to realize

that what he has been doing

is very wrong.

The third step

in our conversion

is the conviction

of our sins.

we see that all we've done

in our lives

have been tainted,

have been self-centered

and self-absorbed.

It's been wicked and evil.

And more than that,

we begin to realize

that all of these sins

we had committed,

we did not just do

against someone else.

We did them against God.

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

Jesus explains this

in the Gospel of Matthew.

He says,

truly I say to you

as you did it

to one of the least

of these my brothers,

you did it to me.

The one thing

we hate above all others,

friends,

is to think of our sins

and to think of our sins

not as mistakes,

but as what they truly are,

sinful sins.

Because God knows

what you do

behind those closed doors

or in that dark room.

He knows all about

what happened years ago

to that person.

He knows all these things

and He knows

that whatever you did

against those people,

you really did against Him.

In this third stage,

we come to realize

that God knows

all about our sins.

We cannot hide from God.

We cannot hide our sins

from the Almighty

who is all-seeing

and all-knowing.

Everything will be proclaimed

from the rooftops.

Nothing is hidden from God.

And in this stage,

we feel the full force

of His gaze upon us

and it cuts us to the heart.

This is no better exemplified

than on that night

when Jesus was betrayed.

Jesus told Peter,

the apostle,

that he would deny Jesus

three times.

And the gospel tells us

that when Peter was in the courtyard

of the high priest

observing the trial of Jesus,

that he did indeed deny Jesus

three times.

And immediately,

after the third denial,

Luke writes,

and the Lord turned

and looked at Peter.

And Peter remembered

the saying of the Lord,

how he said to him

before the rooster crows,

today you will deny me

three times.

And he went out

and wept bitterly.

Friends,

the Lord looked at Peter

and Peter was convicted

of his sins

and he wept bitterly.

And Jesus looks at all of us

while we are sinning

because all of us

when we sin

are actually sinning

against God.

Peter experienced

this gaze of Jesus.

Saul of Tarsus knew it too

and it blinded him.

And you,

Jesus looks at you also.

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

But there is much hope,

friends.

When we feel this conviction,

when we feel the full weight

of our sins,

then thanks be to God.

We move on

to that fourth stage

in coming to Christ.

And what happens

in this stage

is shocking.

What does God do?

Does he condemn?

No, friends.

He forgives

and he commissions.

This is what Jesus

says to Saul of Tarsus

in verse 16.

Rise.

Stand on your feet.

I have appeared to you

for this purpose,

to appoint you

as a servant

and witness

to the things

in which you have seen me

and to those

in which I will appear to you,

delivering you

from your people

and from the Gentiles

to whom I am sending you,

to open their eyes

so that they may turn

from darkness to light

and from the power

of Satan to God,

that they may receive

forgiveness of sins

and a place among those

who are sanctified

by faith in me.

Jesus Christ came to earth

to save sinners

and to commission them

as ambassadors

of his kingdom.

Jesus forgave Peter

and commissioned Peter.

Now he forgives Saul

and commissions Saul.

And I tell you,

he desires to forgive you

and commission you

for his kingdom.

He wants to show you

all that has been appointed

for you to do.

Friends,

we serve a God

who delights in mercy.

He looked upon us

walking in darkness

as slaves to sin

and though we had wronged

him deeply,

he came down

in the person of Jesus,

the healer,

the savior,

to bind and restore

and renew

and reconcile,

to pay for our sins

and to give us new life.

Jesus is a gentle master.

We have wronged him much.

We know we have done wrong,

but he loves

and he longs to forgive

and commission us

in his kingdom

to spread his gospel

of the forgiveness of sins

to all nations.

The plain truth of the matter

is this.

While we were enemies of God,

Christ died for us.

What then can separate us

from the love of Christ?

Nothing, friends.

Nothing.

Hallelujah.

So then we've gone

through four stages.

The first

is being self-centered,

focused on the self,

self-worship.

The second,

you realize that God

is the subject

and what really matters

is not what you think of God,

but what God thinks of you.

And the third

is conviction of sins

and the fourth

is forgiveness of sins

and being commissioned

and appointed

into God's kingdom.

And now,

we come to that final stage.

After the Lord

steps into our lives,

after he forgives

and wipes away your sins,

then this happens.

in verse 19,

Paul says,

therefore,

O King Agrippa,

I was not disobedient

to the heavenly vision,

but I declared first

to those in Damascus

and then in Jerusalem

and throughout

all the region of Judea

and also to the Gentiles

that they should repent

and turn to God,

performing deeds

in keeping

with their repentance.

Paul says in his words,

I was not disobedient

to the heavenly vision.

He accepted his commission.

He accepted his appointment

from Jesus.

He traveled throughout

the Roman world

preaching that all

should repent,

preaching that they should

turn to the living God

and perform deeds

in keeping

with that repentance.

This is very different

than what Saul of Tarsus

was doing before.

Remember what he had been saying.

I thought to myself

that I had to do

many things hostile

to the name of Jesus

of Nazareth.

But now,

he's looking to God

for direction.

He's repenting.

He's submitting to his Lord.

He is saying,

here I am,

O God.

I am here to do

your will,

not mine.

And this friend

is the same

with you.

God is appointing you

to his service

and to his kingdom.

He is commissioning you.

Will you accept it?

He didn't care

that Peter was only

an uneducated fisherman.

He knew that Saul of Tarsus

had committed murder.

He knows you may be unskilled.

You may be afraid.

You may be young.

You may be old.

He knows you may be in school.

You may be retired.

You may be in poor health.

You may struggle with addiction.

You may be disabled.

You may have weak faith.

You may be the worst of sinners.

He knows all these things.

But God's purpose for you

is to convict you of your sins,

to forgive you,

to restore you,

to renew you,

and then to make you

his special instrument

to shine his loving

and glorious light

to others

and to spread the gospel

of mercy and peace,

the forgiveness of sins,

and the reconciliation

of sinners with God.

Will you accept this commission

of Jesus?

I tell you,

there's nothing better.

I remember 23 years ago

when Jesus intervened in my life,

when I was in college,

walking in darkness,

absorbed in my sins,

and then Jesus Christ

stepped into my life

and convicted me of my sins

and then forgave me of my sins

and appointed me to his service.

And I tell you, friends,

this world is not worthy

to be compared

to the kingdom of God

and to the service of Christ.

Lastly, friends,

when you are appointed

to the service of Christ,

you will make the same confession

that Saul of Tarsus made

in his first letter to Timothy

that we heard earlier.

where he said this,

I thank him

who has given me strength,

Christ Jesus our Lord,

because he judged me faithful,

appointing me to his service,

though formerly I was a blasphemer,

a persecutor,

and an insolent opponent.

But I received mercy

because I had acted ignorantly

in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord

overflowed for me

with the love and faith

that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy

and deserving of full acceptance,

that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners

of whom I am foremost.

but I received mercy for this reason,

that in me,

as the foremost,

Jesus Christ might display

his perfect patience

as an example to those

who are to believe in him

for eternal life.

Hallelujah, friends.

Let's pray together.

Oh, Lord Jesus,

thank you that you love us enough

to convict us of our sins.

Thank you that in your love

you came to wash

and renew and rescue.

Father, I pray for those of us

here today

who do not know you.

We ask that you would

illuminate them

and turn them to you

and to your kingdom.

Father, we also pray

for those who do know you.

Lord, we pray

that you would help them,

urge them on

in their walk with Christ.

Help those of us

who are backsliding

and encourage us

in the faith

to not grow weary.

Lord, we pray

also

that you would help us

to share your gospel

of peace and forgiveness

with this world.

We pray that you would give us

a special anointing

of your Holy Spirit

to do that this week.

And we pray this

in the mighty, mighty name

of Jesus.

Amen.