A Salvation Paradigm (1 TImothy 1:12-17)

Thank you for worshiping with us this one. If you

have your bibles, if you'll turn with me to First

Timothy chapter one, First Timothy chapter one. We'll start there

in just a moment. But as you get there, if

you also turn with me to Matthew Matthew Matthew chapter seven,

starting a verse fifteen, give you a moment to get there.

The Bible says in Matthew chapter seven, verse fifteen, this

is what Jesus, This is the word of the Lord.

This is the word of our Savior. Beware of false

prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly

are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them what buy their

fruits or grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles.

So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease

tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit,

nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. Every tree

that does not bear good fruit is cut down and

thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by

their fruits. You ever heard of a man named David D. Taylor.

David D. Taylor is a pastor. He calls himself an apostle.

He led crusades over North America. Just in July of

this year. Of last year, I'm sorry, he led a

crusade called the Global Miracle Miracles in America Crusade against Cancer.

In that crusade, he predicted that he would have three

point five billion people watching his crusade online across the world.

He would promote his crusades, and as he does these crusades,

he uses the Bible. He even quotes Hebrews thirteen eight.

Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. David E.

Taylor in August twenty seven, twenty twenty five, was arrested

two blocks from our church by the FBI. He was

arrested indicted on several different things. Number one, he was

indicted for abusing his call sners. He have call ciners

in Michigan and also in Florida, and there he would

have people house people who would come and who would

work for him, and they would call people who would

come to his crusades and ask them for donations. He

was first indicted on abusing these people that were leading

his call ciners. He would call them armor bears, and

he was indicted on abusing them. He would force them

every day to at least raise or get in donations

sixty thousand dollars a day. If they didn't get six

twe thousand dollars a day in donations, he would he

would make them. He would may not let them eat

for a weeks or at a time. He may make

them go on a peanut butter and jelly fast. But

he abused them. He actually would not let them leave

the call center without his approval. He also would have

them to say they were homeless and go to social

services to get food stamps and food. He was so one.

He was indicted for that. He was also indicted that

he would use his armor bearers to transport women to

where he was from the hotel, I mean from houses

to airports to his location, and he would make sure

that they would take the Plan B pill before they

came to him, and he would have sexual encounters with

these ladies. He would embezzle money. We seen, that's part

of the indictment. But since twenty fourteen his church received

fifty million dollars in donations. I tell you that say,

from the very beginning of this passage, the passage I

share with you today, Jesus tells us that beware of

false prophets. You will recognize them by their fruits. Right.

He gives them the analogy of a fruit bearing tree,

a tree. A great tree doesn't produce bad fruit, right,

A healthy tree doesn't produce bad fruit. A disease tree

cannot produce good fruit. And he says, every tree that

does not bear good fruit is cut down on their

own into the fire. You will recognize them by their fruits.

As we come to first Timothy, you have to understand

that Paul is confronting false teacher, just like David E.

Taylor that was in the town of Ephesus. He tells

this young pastor Timothy, who's ever the church in Ephesus,

to confront these false teachers. One of the issues with

these false teachers is just as there was in moral

behaviors in the life of David E. Taylor, they were

in moral in the life of the false teacher in Ephesus.

And he's asking Paul to confront these false teachers. As

if you remember it, as we went through this series

we started a few weeks ago, one of the things

that Paul is doing is doing to compare in contrast,

he's saying, like, these are the methods of the false teachers,

and this should be your methods as a faithful teacher. Right,

they are opposed. Timothy was to oppose false teachings in

their method and he's to do that by presenting faithful teaching.

He's exposed their results, what they desire, what do they

desire to produce, and he in turn is promote good doctrine.

In this passive scripture. What Paul is doing here is

very simple. What he's showing is he's showing that he's

exposing these false teachings by showing their false conversion. They

say their believers, right, they confess that they've been converted.

They could sucfess to have a relationship with God, even

go so far as they've a tailor would say he's

been apostle, that God had gave him a direct message

and appointing him as the new apostle. And now God

speaks directly through him. So he says he's from God.

He says he's been converted. But what Paul does in

this passage, just like he does that so that the

false teachers in Ephice at the time, and what Paul

does in this passage is he contrasts their life and

their conversion to a true conversion. And so that's what

he does this morning. And Paul, in this passage of

scripture shows his conversion. He shares his conversion to Christ.

And so you know, how do you spot a fake?

How do you spotify a fake? You got to know

the real thing, right, you got to know what is

true conversion? And so he gives his his conversion testimony today.

To really listen, I want you to hear this. He's

giving it to show to give us a pattern or

what does true conversion look like? So we can spot

a fake in false teachers, but also we can spot

a fake in other lives. We will know them by

their what fruits? Want you see this in this passage

he says, he describes he wants his conversion to be

an example. Can I encourage you today that we are

to examine our own faiths? You know the Bible says

that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

I ask you today to as you look at Paul's conversion,

that you examine your faith, you examine God. And my

heart is my conversion is my heart? Right with you.

Is my life right with you? And may God you

use this passage to speak to me. Will you stand

with me unless we read God's word together. It's First

Timothy chapter one. We're gonna start in verse twelve. We'll

go through verse seventeen. Just a few verses this morning.

This is what Paul says. I thank him who has

given me strength, Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he judged

me faithfully and pointing me to this service. Though formerly

I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent.

But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly and my

unbelief and the grace of our Lord overflowed to me

with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The

saying is trustworthy in deserving a full acceptance that Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this

reason and that in me at the foremost Jesus Christ

may be displayed with his perfect patience as an example

to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

The King of Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God be

honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen, Father, we thank

you Lord for this morning. Lord, we recognize that the

word that is read today is yours, it's not mine.

Lord that Lord, your word is the authority by which

we should live our lives by. So Lord, may your

word today speak to us. May you use the Holy

Spirit today to open up our hearts and minds to

your word. Lord. May we examine our alln heard our

own conversion today, and Lord to evaluate whether our hearts

are right with you today. Lord, I pray that you

use this passage to us to Lord, examine our own hearts,

and Lord, that we would respond Lord, according to your word. Lord,

we love you. We thank you Lord for your word today,

and then we pray. Amen. You maybe see them. But

Paul begins this passage scripture. If you look at verse twelve,

you have to understand one of the things that Paul

faces at the time is attacks personal attacks himself. You know,

the other week, probably a few months ago. You know,

my our offices are here, and of course I live

just next right here in the church parsonage, and I

gotta I gotta a Lord on my camera that somebody

came to the house. And so I kind of scooted

over and kind of find out Jehoah witnesses. And so

I was talking to them and and I said, hey,

I appreciate you coming by, but you know, I'm the

pastor of the church. And they were she and the

lady was very kind, but she's said, you know, we

really agree on a lot of things. And I was like,

you know, this is my heart, just as I didn't

say this to her, but in my mind, I was thinking,

you know, there's probably only one thing you and I

agree on. You think I'm a false teacher, and I

think you're a false teacher. That's about the only thing

we agree on. Right That you think I'm a false

teacher and I think you are. That's really the heart

of You have to understand this. Paul's writing this passage

of scripture. He is confront He's telling Timothy to confront

the false teachers. But you had to also understand the

false teachers at the time were trying to attack Paul

as not an authentic minister of the Gospel, that he

also was disingenuous, and that he didn't have the true

authority to teach the Word of God. And so Paul

starts out this very beginning of this passage of Scripture

by doing that, and I would just say to you

as I'm here, just to be honest, transparent with you.

I mean, just in the last three months, I've been

accused of and heard from people that I've been accused

of being a false teacher myself. In just the last

few months, I've been accused of being a hypocrie. So

I mean, I want you to understand if if you're

faithful to do what God wants you to be, there

will be people. It doesn't give you a license that

you're never going to be attacked, that people are not

going to say things to you. I went the other

day to a church pastor before and I went to

greet some of the people there, and there was a

lady there. She saw me coming, and she saw me

coming and she turned her back on me and walked

away from me just so she wouldn't speak to me.

And it's so bitter something I've done. I have no

idea what it is, but I I want you to

see that, to see just as personally as a pastor here,

but that is a Baptist church. If as much as

I may try to be faithful, there will always people

who try to bring attacks against me, and the same

thing for Paul, even so much more for Paul. And

Paul begins by really clearing the air. Listen to what

he says, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ,

Jesus our Lord, because listen to this, because he judged

me faithful and appointed me to this service. He explains

from the very beginning, I thank God because God is

the one who's given me strength. He's the one who's

strengthened to me. But listen to what he also says.

But listen, you have to understand this. For Paul. Paul

is saying I didn't choose this basis what he's saying,

I didn't want to get up one day and says, well,

I think I want to be an apostle. I want

to be a preacher. I want to be a pastor.

Paul says, God appointed me, and he describes that. He says,

God's given me strength to do this ministry Christ because

he judged me, and he judged me faithful. The word

and the Greek there is trustworthy. He judged me faithful, trustworthy.

So although the enemies may say I'm a hypocrite, the

enemies may say I'm a false teacher. The enemy may

not say. I may say I'm not a true pastor

or a true apostle. God has looked down from heaven.

God's seen my heart and he judged me. Listen, the

enemies judged him. He says, God judged me, and God

judged me as trustworthy, faithful. It's a powerful statement in it.

And he because he judged me faithful, trustworthy, he is

the one who appointed me to this service. He's the

one who appointed me to an apostle. I didn't choose.

This is what God shows. I will tell you this

the same testimony for me. I didn't want to be

a pastor. I wanted to be a pilot. And at

seventeen years old, the Lord says, no, no, no, You're

not going to be a pilot. You're going to be

a pastor. And I thought, this is not what I

had the plan for my life. I had a whole

another plan. But God called, and God, you have to

follow that call and post at first establishing his credentials,

if you will, or as his calling to be a

pastor or be an apostle. Verse thirteen is when he

starts really giving again. This here, this false teachers have

infiltrated and and he's now contrasting their life to his life.

I want you to go back and want you to

see something if you go to verse eight with me.

He's talking about these false teachers. And one of the

things the false teachers have done is they've misinterpreted the

Old Testament or what we call the Mosaic Law, which

is the Ten Commandments, and they've misinterpreted those to justify

their moral lifestyle. Paul brings back the Mosaic Commandments and

he explains the Mosaic Law, the ten Commandments are good

to help us recognize what is pleasing and what is

not pleasing in the eyes of God. You've used the

word of God to misinterpret it, to twist it to

justify your moral behavior. He's saying, the word of God,

the Ten of Commandments, are actually good to expose to

us what pleases God and what doesn't please God. But

one of the key elements is verses eight to ten.

Here is it our I guess? Actually, yeah, eight through

ten is it showing what is some of the more

practices of the false teachers. Listen to what it says.

Now we know that the law is good if one

uses its lawfully. Understand this that the law is not

laid down for the just, but for the lawless, for

the disobedient, for the ungodly. The center, then holy, the profane,

those who strike their fathers and mothers, for the murderers,

for a sexual moral, the men who practice homosexuality, the enslavers,

the liar of the perjurers. What else is contrary to

sound doctrine? He says, you've taught false doctrine, and in

your false doctrine, you're actually accusing away these things that

you're actually practicing in your life. And now Paul then

goes to show what his life is like since he's

met Christ. He first starts out by showing this pattern

of his conversion, how he came to know the Lord,

how Jesus saved him. And he starts by describing in

verse thirteen his own sin. But for Paul, he wants

you to see the pattern of his salvation. But he

wants to see very beginning before Christ. There's a pattern

of sin. Before Christ, there is a power. If you're

following making notes, maybe write that in your notes. First,

before Christ, there's a pattern of sin. Look at what

Paul says, though he says in verse twelve, I thank

God who was giving me strength. Christ he uses our

Lord because he judged me faithful, appointing me to this

servers though formally listen that formally, I was a blasphemer, persecutor,

an insolent opponent. Paul begins describing what his life was

before meeting Jesus. He says that uses that term formally.

He describes three different descriptions of the sin that was

in his life before Christ. He first was a blasphemer.

The blasphemer means is one who denied God, one who

speaks against God's holy name curiously or disrespectfully. Paul did

this by rejecting Jesus. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah,

and Paul rejected him as Messiah, and he spoke out

against that, and that was blaspheming He and I was

a God, and Paul recognized before Christ, I was a blasphemoer.

I spoke against God. Secondly, he discribes himself as a persecutor.

He says, a blasphemer and a persecutor, persecutor. We know

this that Paul and acts seven as Stephen was a

preacher of the Gospel, was preaching the gospel. Paul came

and attacked Stephen and led that Stephen would be stone

and Scripture says, as he led the charge for Stephen

to be stolen for proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The Bible tells us that Paul held the garments as

they stolen Stephen. When only did know that he persecuted Stephen,

But we also know in Acts eight that he also

persecuted the church. Acts eight describes how Paul ravaged the church,

dragging men and women are of their homes and throwing

them in the prison for believing in Jesus. Can you

imagine that today? Can you imagine someone going in your home,

grabbing you and dragging you out of your home because

of your faith in Jesus Christ. We know that's happening

in Nigeria and other places across the world even today.

Can you imagine the very one who led that charge

as one by the name of Paul. Paul says, Listen,

before Christ, I was a blasphemer, Before Christ, I was

a persecutor. I killed people for believing in Jesus. Secondly, Thirdly,

he describes himself as an insolent opponent the insolent. There

speaks of an attitude. It speaks out an attitude of anger,

someone who really hates their opponents. It speaks also of

bride as pride, of someone who feels like they really

know better than the other individual. And that was Paul.

Paul was arrogant. He believed that he was right, that

the Christians were wrong, and he hated them. He hated them.

Paul says that simply before Christ, this is me. This

is who I was before Christ. Look at what he

says here in verse thirteen. But I formerly was a blasphemer,

of persecutor, an insolent man. But I received mercy because

I acted ignorant in my own belief. Oh speaks of

before Christ, he acted ignorant in his unbelief. It comes

from the Leviticus. In scripture, we see that someone would

commit sins and the scripture would describe them as unintentional

sin or unconscious sins. You ever had someone as an

unbeliever and there's times where they're just they're just living

in sin, They're just doing things, and you just in

your mind, you're like it, just do they not see

what they're doing? But in a way, you just finally

think you know what they really don't If you will,

they don't know better because they really just don't know

what they're doing against the Holy God. They don't know

what they're doing according against a scripture. Do you understand

that that's that's what Paul was saying here? He says,

I really just didn't know that before Christ, I really

didn't know the depths of my sin. But listen to

what he says there. I think it's important for you

to see in this passive scripture that before Christ, for Paul,

there's this pattern of sin. There's this life all of

habitual sin, lifestyle of blasphemy, lifestyle if you will, of persecution,

lifestyle hatred of Christians, that was before Christ. Right, If

you think about this for Paul, he's wanting you and

I to see as you look at a pattern of

convision conversion, for Paul, the habitual lifestyle of sin preceded

his conversion. You understand that now once you think about that,

what is he doing is comparing contrast? Right, if you

look at the false teacher, they're saying they're conversion, they're converted,

but what's following their conversion a lifestyle of sin Paul

is saying, listen, a pattern habitual sin precedes our salvation,

doesn't follow our salvation. Do you see that? For David D. Taylor,

who one who says that he was a man of God, apostle,

whatever it may be. But if you look at his lifestyle,

he says he had conversion with Christ, he said he

met with God. But what fallt to his life is

a lifestyle of habitual sin. Paul is being very clear here.

This is the way I once lived before Christ. But

when Christ came in me, when Christ changed me, the

old was gone and the new had come. I'm a

new creature in Christ. And Paul is describing that. I

think it's very important for us to understand when we

think about conversion, not to say that after Christ we

won't ever sin. No, that's not the case. But sin

will have no dominion over us because Christ now lives

within us. The power of Christ lives within us, and

it frees us from the patterns of sin. It sees

us from the bondage of sin, and we walt us

a new list of life. Yes we do sin, but

there's a convictional Holy Spirit in us that convicts us

of our sin. When we sin against God, and he

leads us, what then repentance? Right? First John says this,

by the way, First John three, six and nine, no

one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one

who keeps on seething sinning has either seen him or

known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever

practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes

a practice of sin is of the devil. For the

devil has been sinning from the very beginning. The reason

the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works

of the devil. No one born of God makes a

practice of sin, of sinning, for God's seed abides in him,

and he cannot listen to that keep on sinning because

he has been born of God. Paul's being very clear

here when he's confronting the false teachers and he's confronting

on false conversion that hit before Christ, there was a

pattern of sin until he met Jesus. And that's the

next part here. When he met Jesus, there becomes a

pattern of mercy and grace in his conversion. Listen what

Paul says here in verse thirteen, that was firmly I

was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insulin opponent. But I

receive mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is not getting what

you deserve. You know what Paul said. Paul says, I'm

a chief of sinners. Look at verse fifteen in this

passage scripture for the trustworth, for the saying is trustworthy

and deserve full acceptance, acceptance that Christ Jesus came into

the world to save sinners, in whom I am the

foremost other translations, who would say who I am the

chief of He is the chief of sinners. You know

what Paul is saying. He's not looking at these false

teachers who are in sin and says, you know what,

I'm better than they are now, Paul saying, I'm actually

worse than they were. And before Christ, I was worse

than any of them in all the things that they've done.

If you look at the list of in eight through ten,

what was in there? A murderer was a murderer. And

Paul says, listen, I was the chief of sinners, and listen,

I deserve what according to what I've done against Holy

God and blasphemy and murdering and being an opponent enemy

of God. If you will. I deserved death. I've deserved

a punishment for my sins. I deserved hell. And can

I tell you today for all of sin and fall

a short of the glory of God. And there's not

one of us in this room this morning that's not

a sinner, And that's not one of us in this morning,

in this passage I mean here this morning, that also

does not deserve the punishment for what we all of

us in this room deserve hell for what we've done

against the God. We all do that. But the good

news of the Gospel is God doesn't give us what

we deserve. He gives us mercy. He gives us mercy.

And Paul says, God, you gave me mercy. God, I

deserved death. I deserve the punishment for my sins. I

deserved hell. But God, you gave me mercy. Listen to

Way says, No, you gave me mercy. But he also says,

but I received mercy because I'd acted ignorantly my own

belief and the grace of our Lord overflowed to me. God.

Not only you gave me mercy, but God, you gave

me grace. What is grace? Grace is getting what you

don't deserve. What did Paul not deserve? He did not

deserve forgiveness, but God forgave him of all his sins.

Can I tell you today we all don't deserve mercy,

We don't deserve we deserve our punishment for our sins.

But God gives us what mercy. But the good news

also that is God gives us grace. God doesn't give

us what we don't I mean, he doesn't give us

what we deserve, and He also gives us what we

don't deserve and had his forgiveness is a relationship with Jesus,

the one who Paul wants was the enemy of God.

He now had a relationship with the one he used

to oppose. Can I tell you God wants to give

you mercy. God wants to give you grace. God wants

to give you forgiveness. You know what, Paul had an

old life, former life where he was the enemy of God.

But God gave him a new life. And that's what

he did not deserve. And listen, Christ wants to give

you a new life. And furthermore, God gave him grace.

And that one day when he died, instead of receiving

the punishment of death and hell. He gave him something else,

and that is one day he'll be with God forever

in heaven. Listen, that's mercy and grace. That's what Paul received.

Listen to what he says. He describes what that led to. Listen.

But I received mercy because I had to act to

ignorant unt of belief in the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Overflowed to me. Flow with me with what faith and

love there in Christ Jesus. You know what Paul says.

Because I received the mercy of God, because I received

the grace of God, that turned into something to me

that changed me. What did it changed me into? It

changed me to one who had faith in God. One

who used to oppose God, now what had faith than God?

The one once who attacked God's people now had faith

in the one who died for him. Not only had

he had faith in him, he had what love for him?

One who used to hate him now loves him. Listen?

Can I tell you when we receive the mercy of God,

when we receive the grace of God, it changes us.

You know what faith stand for. You've heard me say it.

Adrian Rogers used to say that faith stands for as

an acronym forsaking all. I trust him, you know. For Paul,

when you received the mercy of God, the grace of God,

it came to a place where his life forevermore was

changed by God. And forevermore he trusted in the one

who died for him. His whole life was a life

of surrender, trusting in the one who saved him. You know.

Billy Graham once said these words about conversion. He says,

no one can ever be truly converted to Christ who

has not bent his will to Christ. He may intellectually

access to the claims of Christ, may have an emotional

religious experience. However, if he is not truly converted until

he has surrendered his will to Christ as Lord, Savior,

and Master. Listen, Can I tell you the day that

Paul met Jesus on the road of Damascus and he

encountered the mercy and grace of God. Paul surrendered his

life and he bent his will to say, forever more, God,

I will trust you with my life. We were talking

about saying to human life, and probably a few months

ago I was we partner with a lot of different

places and with a group called Human coalition, and I

went to luncheon with human coalition and again they're a

PRC in Raleigh, and we were meeting and they had

a lady there and she gave her testimony. She was

in school, she was in college, and she was struggling

with schools, struggling with paying the bills and what she

needed for school. So she began working in a shrip club.

Not long after that, she got pregnant naturally, not long

because of his unplank pregnancy, she aborted the first child.

Not long A few months after that, she would get

pregnant again. Struggling with that, she would find her way

to a PRC Human coalition, and there she would go

in and she would see that ultrasound of that little baby,

and she chose life. That human coalition would then put

her in touch with the Church, and there she heard

the good news of Jesus, and Jesus saved her, and

Jesus changed her. And she gave a testimony of what

it meant to be forgiven, what it meant to receive

the mercy and grace of God, and how Christ had

radically changed her, and now how God is now leading

her to care for now her new son, can I

tell you the testimony of that young girl is the

testimony of conversion of God taking the old, forgiving and

redeeming and making someone a new creature in Christ. You see,

she experience the grace and mercy of God, and it

forever changed her to be a woman who put her

faith in Christ, who now lives her life to love

the Lord and follow the Lord. That's the example of

Paul gave here. I wonder about you today because you

been in time that you once were a sinner? Have

you received the mercy and grace of Jesus? Has it

produced faith and love in you? Lastly, Paul says in

this passage scripture that not only does he before Christ

there's a pattern of sin, but when he met Christ

there's a pattern of mercy and grace. Lastly, he explains

that he wants his life to be a pattern for others.

Listen to what he says in this passage of scripture.

He says in verse fifteen, the saying is trustworthy in

deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners. Who I'm the foremost You know what

Paul is saying. There, look at my life. Look at

what Jesus has done for me, and I'm the chief

of all sinners. Can I tell you today? For Paul

wants the people who heard, He wants you to hear

today that if Jesus can save me, he can save you.

I'm the chiefest sinners, and that Jesus can do a

change and work in me, so he can do a

change in work in you. As Paul's hearted this passage

of scripture, he wants people to see what Jesus has

done in his life, and that he wants them to

be so inspired by what Jesus has done in the

mercy and grace that he's received, that they also will

accept that same and mercy and grace for themselves. He

says in verse sixteen, But I received mercy for this

reason that in me at the foremost, Jesus Christ may

display his perfect patient as an example to those who

were to believe in him for eternal life. What he's

saying is there is listen. I want people to see

what Jesus has done for me and see me as

an example that if God can save a wrech like me,

God can save you. To see me an example, see

what Jesus has done for me, and believe that just

as He can save me, so can he save you.

Just as he will called me, show me his mercy

and grace. Show does he want to show mercy and

grace to you? And then lastly he says to the

King of Ages and more to invisible the only God

be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I heard

the story of a man. His name was Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player. One day they

were in a bar drinking him and his buddies from

the baseball team, and they were coming out of there

and out of as it came out of the bar,

there was across the street there was a mission. It

was called the Pacific Garden Mission. There are people there singing,

and they were singing hymns and they were preaching about

the power of Christ to save there. As he heard

the people speaking, he began getting under conviction. He started

thinking about his mom, his godly mom who prayed for him.

He thought about the church he raised up in and

remember the messages he had heard. His eyes began tearing

up and he said to his friends, boys, I'm through.

He looked to his friends and he say, I know

it's hard, but I'm going to turn from my skin

and I'm going to Christ. He says, I guess it's

hard for you to understand, but we've come to parting ways.

I'm going to go my own way now. Some of

them started mocking him, while others just stood stunned and silent.

He would go on into that mission and there he

would call upon God for his mercy and his grace

to come into his life. He said this. He later

would testified, I staggered out of my sins until the

outstretched arms of the Savior, and I instantly became a

new creature. You know the story of Billy Sunday that

he would give up his baseball career and he would

start working at the YMCA for seventy five dollars a

day a month. I'm sorry. He would later become an evangelist,

where he was preached to thousands of people, and one

day at one of his crusades, there was a man

by the name Mordecai Ham who would come to know

the Lord. Mordecai Ham would also experience the same conversion

that Paul did. That Billy Sunday did he received that

same grace and mercy changed life a new creature. Mordecai

Ham would also become an evangelist appointed to God, just

like Paul was appointed to the ministry of the Gospel.

He'd been sharing the gospel, and one day he went

to Charlotte, North Carolina, and in a crusade he shared

the gospel and called people to turn from sin. Who

wants for sinners to receive the mercy and grace of

God and put their faith in Christ. And there's a

man named there, and his name was Billy Graham. You see,

for Paul, for Billy Sunday. They wanted their testimony to

lead to the lives people receiving Jesus Christ as the

Lord's Savior, to change their life, just as Christ change theirs.

I wonder for you today, have you ever thought, Lord,

how might you use me as a display of your

salvation year grace? I wonder today, who do you know

right now that's not a believer? Who's that loved one,

who's that neighbor, who's that coworker? And have you ever thought, Lord,

may they see God the mercy and grace that's in me?

And God may you use me as a testimony of

your mercy and grace and the power of your saving hand,

that God, they might see what you've done for me

and also follow you to salvation as God, just as

you call me, may you call them, and may you

use me as a testimony of your grace and mercy.

Maybe that be your prayer today. Lord, you've got a

calling on me, and that's Lord, you want my testimony

to be a example to others. Lord, help me be

that example of faith, salvation, of conversion, of true conversion.

Help them see that in me. Would you pray with me,

every hit body if I close. I wondered today what

God's spoken to you. I wondered today as you've come

in and today we're just looking at what is true conversion.

I don't know God, how God's spoken to you. Maybe

today it's truly reminding you of the day that you

met Jesus, and how Jesus met you with mercy and grace,

how He's forgiven you, how He's cleansed you. Maybe that's

today for you. Maybe today you recognize hearing this to

this morning, that you know, pastor today, I've never been

truly converted. I've never put my faith in him. I've

never received that mercy and grace today. If I die,

I would spend the eternity to hell because of what

how I've said against the Holy God. Maybe today is

the day where you say, Lord, Today, just as Paul

received your mercy and grace God, Lord, today, I know

I've sent against your Holy God. Today, Lord, I need

your grace, I need your mercy forgive me Lord, Lord Today, Lord,

I don't want today. I want to put my faith

in you. Lord. I want to live my life for you. Lord.

I want to surrender my life to you. Lord. Maybe

that's you today. Would you make that your prayer? Or today?

I recognize I'm a sinner and today I put my

faith in you for salvation. God. Today, would you save me?

Would you make that your prayer? And would you make

it your prayer that Lord, I want you to use

my testimony to lead others to faith. Father. I thank

you Lord for this morning. I thank you Lord for

what you've done. God. I thank you Lord for the

example of Paul. God, how you met him that day

on the road to Damascus. God, how you poured out

your mercy and grace upon him, a sinner and God,

we recognize today if we're here today, Lord, the days

our road to Damascus, the day we met you, And God,

how Lord you poured out your mercy and grace upon us. God,

we praise you, Lord for your love for us. We

praise you for your mercy. We praise you for your grace. Lord.

I pray that you would continue to lead us to

daily put our faith in our trust in you. Lord,

that we would love you, serve you, live for you. Lord.

I pray Lord, that you would use the testimony of

our faith, of our conversion to lead other people to

put their faith in you as well. Lord. I pray

for this time of invitation, if we just need to

come to this altar and pray for lost loved ones. Lord,

I pray, Lord, however you lead us. Pray. God, we

respond to you now. Lord, We love you. We thank

you Lord for today. We thank you Lord for your mercy,

We thank you for your grace. We thank you for

your word, your name. We pray and all to Him