When Grace Interrupts: Saul’s Damascus Road & Loving Your Enemies (Acts 9)

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I want to start with something that's a little bit different and The big thing is is I don't know and I'm not going to get into where everyone's at politically That's not really my concern, but what I want to do is just kind of do a self-examination on something This is just like a heart check

[SPEAKER_01]: So, and you can kind of fill in the blank with whatever incident happened just the most recent incident is what I'm going to bring up is when the Charlie Kirk event happened I want to get your guys is just again self gauge this within your own heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: What was your immediate reaction when you heard that when you heard the news of what happened?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it was mixed, maybe had a couple different feelings, maybe you had some very strong feelings, one side or the other, but it probably started something up.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to bring that up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I want to ask you what your response was to those that had an opposing view of you, and someone that viewed something differently than you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And someone that had maybe a very strong opposing opinion of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to envision that person,

[SPEAKER_01]: or people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know there is a lot of, I don't have social media, but I have heard there have been a lot of unfollowing and unfriending or whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to think of those people, whoever it may be, maybe you did the same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to envision this person that maybe you have someone specifically in your mind, like, oh my gosh, the way that they responded or the way that they did that or said that, I just, I'm disgusted.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to envision that person becoming a believer.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want you to think about that for a second.

[SPEAKER_01]: That person that was saying maybe terrible things or whatever becoming a believer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want to take it a step further and I want you to now envision that person, not just becoming a believer, but a pastor of a church.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want that to set in for a second because that may seem very extreme and you'd be like, man, there is no way.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you, Sam, you don't know this person.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the person's you, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you're like, I'm the person that is angry or whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to have that mindset as we go into this passage today because there's two things.

[SPEAKER_01]: One, if you had someone that instantly came up into mind, I want to challenge you with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I really want to encourage you to pray for that person that you thought of.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to encourage you to pray for that person.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then what today is going to show us is that God cannot only reach the quote-unquote unreachable is that He can do crazy things in their life and use Him in powerful ways.

[SPEAKER_01]: and that we need to be aware of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And also, we need to be mindful of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be in the book of Acts, like I said.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the book of Acts is the beginnings of the early church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the beginning of the early Christian church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus had already come, had His ministry on earth, died, been resurrected, and now this is the start of

[SPEAKER_01]: the Christian church.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're going to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Acts chapter 9 specifically is about Saul.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you guys have heard of Paul more commonly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul wrote like majority of the New Testament.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want you to be mindful of who we're talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul was a Roman citizen.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean he was Jewish when he was a Roman citizen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And around 12, he went to school to become a rabbi.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he went to school to become a Pharisee, to become a teacher.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the Bible tells us that he was like the Pharisee of Pharisees.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like if there was a dude who was like, man, this guy got perfect score, the best scholarship, the top of his class, that is this guy that we're talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: He was like, new at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, better call Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what that was him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was the guy, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So he knew all these things.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is who we're going to be talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saw the Pharisee.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I want to start with.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be in chapter nine.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get right into it again for sake of time.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it starts with chapter nine verse one.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says mean while saw was still breathing out murderists threats against the Lord's disciples.

[SPEAKER_01]: He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogue in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might have them taken as prisoners of Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to start with, it starts saying that Saul was still breathing murderous threats.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk more about that in a second and it says it against the Lord's disciples that he went to the high priest.

[SPEAKER_01]: which was Kaya Piss.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Kaya Piss played a large part in the crucifixion of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kaya Piss did not like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this guy saw is like, I'm gonna go to the high priest who already doesn't like Jesus and I wanna go and round up these people that are saying that Jesus rose again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're spreading all these lies and spreading all this stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna go, we're gonna get them and I'm gonna talk more about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it says to people who belong to the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I want to just forget for context, that is the description of the early church they were called the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you guys were Star Wars nerds and any Star Wars fans in here, like two, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody else is a closet, Star Wars fan, I guess.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a show called the Mandalorian, and the Mandalorian, they're like, oh, the way, like that's like the name of their group.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what this is talking about, it was the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they're trying to find people who belong to the church that were followers of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they're looking for.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it said, men are women.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what Saul is trying to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's trying to go and capture these men or women.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I want to point out something that had just happened,

[SPEAKER_01]: prior to this, because it says, meanwhile, we're still breathing out murderous threats.

[SPEAKER_01]: So to kind of set the stage on what had happened, prior to this was other than Jesus, we had the next person killed because of Jesus, essentially, is because of their faith in love and trust in Jesus that a person was murdered.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're gonna go to Acts chapter seven, real quick, gonna pick it up in verse 54.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when the members of the Sanhedrin, so to give you the stage, Stephen was basically telling the Sanhedrin, which is like the Supreme Court of the Jewish people, so like these really high-ranking officials, like you guys missed it, like Jesus came, the Messiah came and you guys missed it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they were like, so mad, they're like,

[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to kill this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it says, when the members of the San Headron heard this, they were furious, nasty their teeth at him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Steven, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, they said, look, he said, I see heaven open in the son of man standing at the right hand of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: At this, they covered their ears yelling at the top of their voices.

[SPEAKER_01]: They all rushed him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is, the members of the Sanhedrin were so offended and not just offended anger.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that they covered their ears in this act of rage.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gnashing their teeth, dragged him out because of who he was representing of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, Jesus was at the right hand.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says that they dragged him out and began to stone him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, meanwhile, the witness is laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: So all these guys about to do this dirty work of killing this guy, they laid their coats down at the feet of Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Saul is there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, I want you to pay attention to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says verse 59, while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus received my spirit, then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this in against them when he said this, he fell asleep and Saul approved of their killing of him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is setting the stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk more about Stephen again in a couple minutes.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want you to understand, like this is who Saul is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul was just a part of the murder of Stephen, because Stephen was saying that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and that they are wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what is happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so Saul says he approved of his killing.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that is setting the stage of what's happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Stephen was just killed and think about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is early church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Christians, their network, they had a network.

[SPEAKER_01]: They would know and hear about things.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see that again, proven in a couple of minutes.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this guy was just killed because he loved Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now we have him saying, I want to go and get more that love Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go and round them up.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he goes at the high priest, Chiapes, who already did not like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, let me get a letter saying I can go and gather all these people up that are the followers of this false teaching, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me go get them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go get them and do the same thing, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's on his way to Damascus to go and do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is setting the stage of what has just happened to what is about to happen and continue.

[SPEAKER_01]: So

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 3, let's pick it up there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He fell to the ground and he heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who are you, Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul asked, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting here, applied, now get up and go to the city and you will be told what you must do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want to point something out.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that this happens suddenly.

[SPEAKER_01]: He literally had just been a part of an event where a Christian was killed.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to go get more.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to get a good thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to go get the rest of them that think that way, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: As he's on his way this light, it says suddenly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now what I want to point out is sometimes when someone's life can change by Jesus, it can happen suddenly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we see that it takes a while.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we see that it was a constant nudging of like man.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, you were always there for me and it just one day it finally all made sense, but I can see that you've been there the whole time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we have things that happen that just bring us to our knees.

[SPEAKER_01]: and we're like, oh my gosh, like either God brings you to rock bottom, you went there yourself, you made choices in your life where you're at rock bottom and you're like, I have nowhere else to turn or God brings us there or whatever it may be, but the point is sometimes these things can just happen suddenly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul thought he's probably going to get into masquist maybe grab some food after a long journey and then you know go and do what he was supposed to do and nope all that change in the blink of an eye.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what we may not see is we may not see the same type of things happening that solved it but we still see things that happen but I want to point out is whatever it is God can use it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whether it was you messed up and

[SPEAKER_01]: brought these hard times on yourself, or you just came into hard times and God's using that whatever it is, God can use it and it can happen suddenly, but it can be used for good.

[SPEAKER_01]: In Genesis, Joseph talks about what the enemy meant for evil, God can use for good.

[SPEAKER_01]: So even if you're like, man, like, no, like, maybe God had a plan for me, but I messed it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I promise you today, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we're going to talk more about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: God can turn your tragedy into testimony.

[SPEAKER_01]: like it literally is only through him that God can restore these things, but I want to encourage you with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we see that Saul is headed to Damascus to capture these Christians and this light happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see here that after this light came that he fell to the ground and that this voice speaks to him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what I imagine is, is one,

[SPEAKER_01]: this bright light that God that Jesus has already shown his glory, that he's already, it says that he fell to the ground.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus is no longer needing to establish any sense of like,

[SPEAKER_01]: authority.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like him being there, this bright light brought Saul to the ground.

[SPEAKER_01]: This next part though, how I envision this is that this was not a voice of a rebuk that this was a gentle Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you persecute me?

[SPEAKER_01]: We see Jesus talking to Saul and I do think that this was gentle because of the way that it was written.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the other thing is I think that again, he doesn't need to establish this sense of authority and he's talking to him and he says, why do you persecute me?

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says in Matthew that what you've done to the least of these you've done with me, it talks about like if you've

[SPEAKER_01]: fed the hungry, you've given clothes, you've been hospitable, whatever you did, you did at the least of these you've done unto me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Same thing, you didn't give him food, you didn't give him, whatever you did at least of these are didn't do, you've done unto me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Steven was just killed and he was, Jesus was killed and he was like, why are you persecuting me?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because he was going to go get more Christians.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saying, you're not after them, you're there because of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, so why are you persecuting me?

[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, again, Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he, this is what Saul replies with.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, who are you Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I do really love this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's because this is the first time that we see Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think, again, Pharisee of Pharisees.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is the first time that Saul has ever said, who are you Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who are you, Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: He knew everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: He could have recited things.

[SPEAKER_01]: He could have been like, whoa, you know, in when the Egyptians were living blah, blah, blah, whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: He could probably tell you all of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, he was the Pharisee of Pharisees, but I think what he was missing, again, was the relationship.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is the first time we see the relationship develop.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, who are you, Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: And we know that Jesus continues to reveal himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what I love is this is not the last time that Saul will ask this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Later, commonly known as Paul, to us, becomes a staple in the church, a staple in the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, we know that he does develop a deep love and deep desire, but I want to, it started with probably the lowest point of his life, and we're going to see that unfold here in a minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that he says that he is Jesus whom he is persecuting.

[SPEAKER_01]: The next verse it says, now get up, go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first thing that Jesus does is he again, and let me introduce myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Jesus, who you're persecuting, and then he immediately gives him an opportunity for obedience.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now what I want to point out is that Saul could have been like, we need to regroup, we need to go back, we need to go back to Kaya Piss, get some direction here, he'll tell me what to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he has a choice here, and he made a choice.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was the instruction was to go into the city and he'll be told what he must do.

[SPEAKER_01]: He had had an opportunity to be obedient, and we see that he was obedient.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 7, it says, the men traveling with Saul stood their speechless.

[SPEAKER_01]: They heard the sound, but did not see anyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing, so they led him by hand.

[SPEAKER_01]: into Damascus and for three days he would blind was blind and did not eat or drink anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to point a couple things out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul was not alone when this happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: He had people with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it said that the people that were with him, they couldn't see what was happening, but they could hear and feel like something is going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: So now think about those that are with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like this dude's writing all sudden is just like, boom, on the ground, they're like, what is happening right now?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like something is happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like they had to be freaking out a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's super interesting.

[SPEAKER_01]: As in Daniel chapter 10, a very similar thing happens where Daniel had a vision had been praying and then all of a sudden after 21 days of fasting and this angel appears to him and it said that those that were with him couldn't see this happening but they could feel that something was happening.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: They could feel something was occurring.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so what happened was, as Daniel's eyes were open to the spiritual warfare that was taking place, and those around them, it was still tangible, but they couldn't see if they could feel it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of the times, we don't understand it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are things happening around us that we don't see, that's impacting the things that are actually around us.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there is real spiritual warfare that happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we're getting an example of,

[SPEAKER_01]: He's interaction with Jesus that those that were there knew something was up and they were freaked out.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see that kind of continue to play out, but they knew that something was happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then we see that Saul got up and he was blind.

[SPEAKER_01]: He got up, he couldn't see.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what I envisioned Saul was is that he just got off of what I'm sure he was assuming was a big triumph.

[SPEAKER_01]: They just killed this Christian Steven.

[SPEAKER_01]: He probably thought he was doing a good deed.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, man, like, came out there, keeping the rabbi brotherhood good, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting rid of these guys saying false things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go get more of them because that's what we're going to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's probably envisioning how he's going to come into Damascus.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm about to roll up in here, be like, yo, I'm here for those belonging to the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I bet you get this all played out in his mind how his entrance into Damascus was going to look.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says that they had to lead him in by hand, because he couldn't see.

[SPEAKER_01]: So one, I think that's humbling.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that he was extremely humbled by how it came in.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he had to get led into by hand.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says for three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I now want you to think about what happens in Saul's mind right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul now knows that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus appeared to him and Saul is not a dumb guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a smart guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's smart enough to know like,

[SPEAKER_01]: messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when I don't know if you guys have ever had the internet go out or whatever and you have time to reflect.

[SPEAKER_01]: Earlier the kids were saying something they were like, I'm bored and I was like, hey, boredom is when creativity starts, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because when you're bored, your mind wanders, you start thinking about things like, man, if people could just make this tool, what I think was happening with Saul here, though, was he had three days to reflect.

[SPEAKER_01]: on how he had been living his life and how wrong that he was, that he had just killed an innocent man, been a part of the killing of the Messiah, and now here he is for three days like I blew it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I just I was wrong and I think he had a lot of emotions.

[SPEAKER_01]: It makes a motion.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's probably some shock.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a little bit of gratefulness, like, okay, Jesus spared me, but why some guilt?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm probably, my adventure to guess, a lot of guilt, majority guilt.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that he probably felt a lot of sorrow in this and that how he had been living his entire life in an instant realized he was wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: That Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the Pharisee of Pharisee and he missed it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he had been going to go and get others in the midst of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's probably what more than likely what he's feeling.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to pay attention to this in verse 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, in Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord called him in a vision.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ananias.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Lord, he answered.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarsis named Saul for he is praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and places hands on him and restore his sight.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, and I have answered, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm that he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem, and he has come here with the authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.

[SPEAKER_01]: So now I want to say pay attention to something.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is to the believer.

[SPEAKER_01]: So first I want to talk about, if you're here today and you're like man, I really

[SPEAKER_01]: Align with Saul like I am messed up and let me let me tell you we all we're Saul at some point I want to encourage you with that that has been all of us in this room and if you're today You're like me, I'm still the Saul

[SPEAKER_01]: Pay attention to that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But to the believer, listen up, because this is where we need to be paying attention to.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that he goes to Ananias in this vision, and he is telling him to go to this guy, Judas' house, and this is not Judas' scariot, by the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: That guy, Judas, probably thought about a name change, like man, Jesus, everyone else in the Bible, got to change their name, can I get a name change, please?

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, Judas on straight street, he says, go to this house and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul for he is praying.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what I think is interesting is, and Annais, if you see in his conversation, new who Saul was, because he's now trying to tell Jesus, like, hey, there's reports about this guy that he's actually here to get people like me and do what they did to my friend Stephen.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Ananias is doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see that Ananias is almost trying to educate Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, hey, Jesus, thanks for appearing in this vision, but you know, just probably something you should important information you should know before you said me to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: That guy is like trying to capture me.

[SPEAKER_01]: So,

[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't know what's fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't know, but I'm not letting you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is an omniscient.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's God is all powerful, all knowing, and he's all present.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not confined to our timelines.

[SPEAKER_01]: So God is like, yeah, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is like, I know, I didn't make a mistake.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm telling you,

[SPEAKER_01]: go that's why I think he was so specific to he's like you're going to go to this house you're going to find a man from here just in case he was like oh you're going to go find saw he's like oh so cool oh this saw I thought you meant the other saw he's like no no no no no go to Judas's house on straight street you know it's going to be second left

[SPEAKER_01]: Then you're going to find a guy from Tarsis.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just in case there's another Saul there, it's the one from Tarsis.

[SPEAKER_01]: From Saul, his name is Saul, and he's expecting you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the one you're going to find.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we see Ananias, Trider, reason it, and rationalize this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to point this out as it's sometimes a thing, believers that God asks us to do is crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: It seems crazy to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't make sense to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here we have Stephen, he's like, man, he just, Stephen had just been killed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Anis has like, God, like, you've got this wrong, like you're not understanding.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me explain this to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: But God's like, no, I didn't get this wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we don't always understand.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, for instance, I never in a million years thought I'd be standing here in Texas today.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you were to ask me, out of been like, yeah,

[SPEAKER_01]: probably live in Tucson my whole life and, you know, retire out there and I don't know, do whatever it got my kids out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Never, if you would've asked me seven, eight years ago, if I would've been living in Texas, I bet you big money now, big money.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing is that God calls to do crazy things sometimes and it's because He has a plan.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now that doesn't mean it's gonna be easy.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna talk about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't mean that it's gonna be easy.

[SPEAKER_01]: but he does have a plan, verse 15, it says this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says,

[SPEAKER_01]: But the Lord said to Ananias, go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and to their kings and to the people of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, one thing is that, God, Jesus is message to the same.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, I didn't make a mistake.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I was so specific.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ananias, go, like, go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, the other thing is, is that

[SPEAKER_01]: We do see Saul Paul's life after becoming a believer, was not easy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He had multiple shipwrecks in prison, numerous times.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, ends up getting persecuted as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he had a really rough go post-accepting Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what I want to also inform us is Jesus is not just necessarily

[SPEAKER_01]: A recipe for an easy life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to prepare you for that now in case you thought like well cool like I've got Jesus now so now

[SPEAKER_01]: everything will always work in my favor and I'm gonna start playing the lottery because I love Jesus and Jesus loves me and He wants me to be happy.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the case guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you right now that's not the case.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't give me wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: We do have blessings and we've been blessed but what changes is our perception on things because we know that we've been promised eternity and we've given forgiven the biggest debt.

[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that Jesus has is better than anything this role can offer.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't believe me, go read Ecclesiastes, Solomon had it all and was like, it was nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: We sometimes think in the confines of now and this is something way beyond that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we do see that the recipe for a Christian life is not always easy and in fact, as the world continues to darken, we see that persecution continues to grow.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see that, and we're gonna talk more about this, but having a foundation in Jesus is something that seems to become,

[SPEAKER_01]: a growing thing as of late, but also very much an adversarial thing at the same time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're going to talk more about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I just want to plug in that is what we're going to see Paul as you continue to read about Paul.

[SPEAKER_01]: He went through a really hard time, but he was faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was still faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: So now going in to verse 17, it says, then Ananias went to the house and entered it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we see that he was obedient, that he went to the house and entered it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says here, placing hands on Saul, he said, brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, as you were coming here has sent me to you that you may see him again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says immediately something like scale's fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again.

[SPEAKER_01]: He got up and was baptized and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I wanna talk about this again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I think we over,

[SPEAKER_01]: or I don't think we gave it enough weight, is that Ananias was obedient, but that doesn't mean that Ananias was not freaked out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that Ananias was obedient because he trusted Jesus, but I still think that he was like, had a lot of mixed emotions himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want you to remember that

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul was there at the killing of Stephen and it said that he approved of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was literally there to go and gather Women and men to do the same thing and so he's probably feeling like almost like I envision like Jonah and they're like man Nine of us this guy Saul like he doesn't deserve this grace right, but he's like man.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus told me to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna go But I can't help but think that he was probably like man this guy just killed one of us

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, just killed a brother in Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm gonna go to this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's literally here to come and get me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's why he's here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm gonna go surrender to this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I can't help but think, like, these thoughts were entering his mind that he was having to battle.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I wanna point out was he was obedient and that he went.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus called him to do something and that he was obedient.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I wanna note how he interacted with Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what it says.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, Saul has spent the last three days blind and probably thinking like, what is going to happen?

[SPEAKER_01]: like, I'm the worst, like I just killed, we were part of killing Jesus, the Messiah, and now I just killed this innocent man for having faith in the truth, that I was wrong in, three days of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a long time, and then we have this vision of this guy coming, and again, he can't see, I can't help but think this is kind of how it played out, door opens, saws there, blind, and anious walks up to him, and it says,

[SPEAKER_01]: He went into the house, entered it, and it said, he placed his hands on Saul, and he said, brother Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, brother Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, why don't you think about that?

[SPEAKER_01]: How hard that must have been.

[SPEAKER_01]: To not just be with someone that he liked, this guy just was a part of again, the killing of Jesus, the person that they all have their faith in and then killing another believer, and he goes up to him again, I don't think without any internal turmoil, but he was obedient and he recognizes him as a brother and he says brother Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want you to envision Saul.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll probably expecting this guy, Anna and I, I was like, yeah, maybe he's going to come in and heal me, but I'm going to get a tongue lashing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to hear all about this because that's what I deserve and this guy comes in and gives him this grace and calls him brother.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's to me, I feel like, man, like, there's probably like some emotions in that room.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is probably some real emotions in that room because this guy, that person that you thought about maybe a couple minutes ago, you're like, man,

[SPEAKER_01]: Not that person.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can see a lot of other people.

[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's pretty close.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's almost about to give to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this person, they're so far.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no way that was saw.

[SPEAKER_01]: And here he says,

[SPEAKER_01]: brother saw.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that is to the believer, because that is easier said than done.

[SPEAKER_01]: But as believers, as we're going to talk about it in a couple of minutes, we've been called to live a certain way.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't mean that it's easy, but it's how we've been called the lib.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to kind of close out with Saul as far as what kind of happens next.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it says that

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul spent, I'm sorry, it says immediately something like scales from Saul's eyes and he could see again He got up and was baptized and took some food and regained their strength and then it says in verse 32 Oh, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nope.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says in verse 20.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus And it says out once he began to preach in the synagogues at Jesus as the son of God

[SPEAKER_01]: This is extremely important as well for what we believe and why we believe it.

[SPEAKER_01]: As you had a person who literally was charged with capturing Christians, who had something happen where he completely flipped and the reason that he was going into arrest people, he is now doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want you to think about that and with our faith, is that

[SPEAKER_01]: We had a guy who had an experience, and some people want to argue and articulate, well, you know, I don't know about the Bible, about its truth or whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have an example here of someone completely doing a 180, as far as they were there to arrest Christians, and now he is proclaiming the very thing that he was arresting people for.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to think what type of interaction that he had was he crazy?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think so.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that he had a real interaction with Jesus, the resurrected Messiah, and this vision, and that is what changed his life, and we are seeing the outpour of a change life.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're seeing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, all that heard them were astonished, and asked, isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who called on his name on this name, and hasn't he come here to take them prisoners to the chief priests?

[SPEAKER_01]: So now the people are like, again, people knew that Saul was coming, and anious new.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, these other people are like, okay, Saul's here and he's like, all right, cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's about to round up all these Christians.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it says that he's in the synagogues, like, hey, Jesus is God, and they're like, wait a minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: This guy is he tricking people?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's literally trying to capture these people, and now he's saying that Jesus is God, and that is the power of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can completely change in alter your life in a way that no one else could.

[SPEAKER_01]: No self-help book, no guide to parenting, or whatever, fill in the blank.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is only through the power of Jesus and we see that total transformation happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says verse 22, it says yet Paul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 23, it says, after many days had gone by there was still there was conspiracy among the Jews to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Saul learned of their plan, and a day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him not believing he was really a disciple.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.

[SPEAKER_01]: He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He talked and debated with how inistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when the believers learned of this, they took him down to Cecilia and sent him off to Tarsus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened, living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to point out a couple of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see that they wanted to kill Saul because of the power of his testimony.

[SPEAKER_01]: because that he was there with the same intention.

[SPEAKER_01]: At first they were like, that a boy saw, go get him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now all of a sudden he's saying, guys, I was wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus was the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says, again, that he knew the Bible so well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I get, I guarantee he was like, here he is fulfilling this prophecy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He did that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here he is fulfilling this prophecy.

[SPEAKER_01]: That guy did that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, all right, now Saul's a problem.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: because here he was in our name, in chia piss is name coming to deliver these orders.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now here he is opposing chia piss, the chief priest by saying the same thing that a week ago, because he was there on the authority of chia piss.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, guys, Jesus is the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And these people are like, wait a minute, hold on.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is Jesus the Messiah?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because he's like representing the chief priest here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we got to get rid of him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we see the interaction from believers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Believers are like, man,

[SPEAKER_01]: And this guy says he's a Christian, I don't believe it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says that some of them were fearful of him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says the original, these weren't the original 12 disciples.

[SPEAKER_01]: These were followers of Jesus and Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that he went to them and they're like, yeah, no, sorry dude, not here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what you're trying to do, but you ain't tricking me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it says that he goes to the apostles and that he was with the apostles.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that's the thing is that as believers, we're gonna talk more about this in depth in a second.

[SPEAKER_01]: is again, that mindset of God can change the hearts of people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we gotta get out of the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing is that God used an anious.

[SPEAKER_01]: God does not have to use us.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think He chooses to use us for us to grow as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because the growth of an anious in this, I guarantee you an anious was walking up to that door, like all right, this dudes.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is all in there, from Parsis.

[SPEAKER_01]: Judas in South from Strait Street, like kind of had to get himself psyched up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then when he sees this all happen, and like, a couple of days later, this guy is teaching and sharing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine if Anna and Ias had been disobedient.

[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I guarantee you, Jesus would have used somebody else and would have been like, all right, or the Jonah thing would have happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've been in a whale in the middle of Damascus for three days.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing is is that that grew Ananious as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because Ananious learned God, you can use anybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you can, you came for the least of these.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you can use anybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, that mindset too of like, sometimes we think that Jesus is only for us and that our Jesus is only for, well, who I think should have Jesus because they're nice and I wanna invite them to church because they're nice to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we should love our neighbor.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even when that neighbor is the one that's calling the HOA on us for our trash cans.

[SPEAKER_01]: Call, love that neighbor too.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna love the neighbor, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: But that's what we see.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wanna close out here with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is we did read today one of the most unlikely conversions in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw the guy persecuting and killing Christians become a staple of the church, standing boldly days later, saying, guys, Jesus is the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: Khyapis, he wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to save you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus will.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he was so bold in that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you guys to understand if you're sitting here today and you're like, well, I'm not worthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not worthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've messed up too much.

[SPEAKER_01]: God will never use me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, I started with saying that Saul said that he was a Pharisee of Pharisee, but he also said he was a sinner of sinners.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that no one has gone too far from God's grace.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning at your worst, Jesus said, I got them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not when, oh man, look at that.

[SPEAKER_01]: that for him.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: At your worst.

[SPEAKER_01]: The worst thing you've ever done, Jesus said, I love them so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to take that on because I love them.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the love that he has for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians 2-8 says this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, forward is by grace that you have been saved through faith, that it is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is nothing that you have done to earn it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to really stress that home.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul, what was he doing?

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to go and kill more Christians.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus said, I got that one.

[SPEAKER_01]: He had just killed the Christian.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got that one.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is grace that we have it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can never earn it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can never achieve it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's never anything you can do.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can feel like, all right, well, if I do enough good things in the world, then at least Jesus, you know, he picked a good one.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know that, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We should live a life that honors him because of our love for him, but it's not achieving salvation.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing that can do that other than what Jesus did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, he can turn your tragedy into testimony.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have messed up and you're at that point where like, man, this is me, like, today is the day.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, don't leave this place without giving that over to the Lord and being like, God, change me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Change me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I know I've messed up, guess what we all have messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says that life is a marathon, it's not a sprint.

[SPEAKER_01]: We each run our race, it's going to look differently.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we have seasons where it's like, man, I knew all the right things.

[SPEAKER_01]: I walked with the Lord and then I walked away.

[SPEAKER_01]: I messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I walked a dangerous path, or I've been living in a way that I shouldn't have been living.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not too late.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had Peter, Peter was one of the 12 disciples.

[SPEAKER_01]: He denied Jesus three times.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, he denied Jesus three times, and he was restored into ministry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even well in his ministry, he still wasn't perfect.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw that even with the early church that he had him and Paul kind of got into it and that there were still things that he was messing up with.

[SPEAKER_01]: David, David, you guys know from David and Goliath was like a mighty man of God, man after God's own heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: like this dude loved the Lord and he had an affair and then murdered the husband of this girl and he repented and still fixed his relationship with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like there is nothing that you have done that you can't get back to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: We all have done things and it is a race and sometimes that race we walk a path that we shouldn't have walked, but God is sovereign enough to correct you and to fix it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it does take your willingness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saul was given an instruction, go to Damascus, he had a choice.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus saying, come back to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Give me the things that I will die for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Give it to me, I will take that on.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be obedient in that though.

[SPEAKER_01]: And our love for others.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the big thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: So believers today, our love for others is something that we know intellectually, but sometimes in practice, we, in myself included, we mess up on.

[SPEAKER_01]: and we're not perfect at.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we won't be perfect at, but it is good to remind ourselves of how we've been called to live.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are called to stand firm in the truth and I want to express that is that we are called to stand firm in the truth and God's Word so that we don't, we don't sway on that, but we are called to live in love.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is where I want to press in on it for a couple of moments.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew 5, 43, 348 says this, says you have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you, that you may be children of your father and heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: He causes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are not even the tax collectors doing that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do not even the pagans do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what this is saying is,

[SPEAKER_01]: How we are called to live is how Jesus wants to live is by loving others.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that person that I mentioned earlier, that you're like, man, I cannot stand this person.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are dead to me, they're dead to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting rid of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to encourage you to remember that person and commit to praying for that person.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because at the heart of that, we have someone that is lost.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have someone that needs Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And guess what, we were at that same point at 1.2.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is my encouragement to you is to remind ourselves to be that light.

[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel 123 says this, it says those who are wise will shine like brightness of heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like stars forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_01]: Colossians 4, 5 through 6, it says, be wise in the way you act towards outsiders.

[SPEAKER_01]: Make the most of every opportunity.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let your conversation be always full of grace, season with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: In this day and age, people love to be heard.

[SPEAKER_01]: People also love to be right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it takes not biting the bait and realizing that the end of this

[SPEAKER_01]: there is someone who's lost and who needs Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And no matter what it is, there's always gonna be something that that person's upset about, always something that it's a heart issue, not a knowledge issue.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can have all the right responses as far as like, well, this status is, this status is, at the end of it, it's a heart issue.

[SPEAKER_01]: Quick example, this happened on the way here.

[SPEAKER_01]: My daughter is the last two days.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were at a karate tournament.

[SPEAKER_01]: My kids were in.

[SPEAKER_01]: She didn't get a nap the last couple days.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's been a rough, we've been paying for it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll just say that.

[SPEAKER_01]: This morning, she was crying to start.

[SPEAKER_01]: She wanted a bagel.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were already in the car on our way here.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have bagels in the car.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have a toaster.

[SPEAKER_01]: She all these things that she wanted, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I already know what happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even if I had a bagel, even if I had a bagel in my hand, it would be something else and sure enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why won't water?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thirsty.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thirsty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me water.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I just want the water.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me the water.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hold me, now you have to hold me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, listen, at that it, I know the root of this is she's tired.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatever it is, something is gonna be bothering her because she is tired.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just gonna be, what is, I can be his water.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, good, oh, hold you, hold you.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, rock me, sing me a song.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, it's gonna be something else, fill in the blank.

[SPEAKER_01]: These people that are lost and saying things, it doesn't matter.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our job is to love and point them to Jesus because at the end of the day, you're not going to change their mind with an argument, but what you can't do is change their heart with prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what I want to encourage you guys to do is, again, embodying this heart of man, we've got some lost people in this world, but we have the solution, and it's not you, it's a person living in you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's pointing into that same solution because we were in that same point, we were broken, and we have the solution to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is my last thing on this, and then we're gonna close, but I think this is a helpful reminder for us sometime, because we do bite that bait a lot of times.

[SPEAKER_01]: Second Timothy 2, 22 through 26, it says, flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with all of those call on the Lord out of a pure heart,

[SPEAKER_01]: Do not have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know that they produce quarrels, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone able to teach and not resentful.

[SPEAKER_01]: Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably 15 once as a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.

[SPEAKER_01]: As we engage, what I wanna again encourage you with is, yes, stand in the truth, but walk in love.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let others dictate what you believe.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what we believe, and this is what we hold our foundation in, and we're not gonna sway on that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, God's word is our foundation, we'll be very clear.

[SPEAKER_01]: But as I said earlier, what we are seeing at the very core is this is a heart issue.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't bite the bait because a lot of times, it is just looking for an argument, and that doesn't produce any fruit, but what does is pointing them to their savior, to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: and how we've been called to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to close, we're going to pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to encourage you today, though, if you have that person in mind that you thought of write it down, I want you really to take this seriously and commit to praying for that person.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have that social media stuff in your like, man, I see this all day, even if you're not writing down 100 names as you go, because there's a lot of

[SPEAKER_01]: all around.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to encourage you to take that moment and just in that moment instantly instead of being like, oh, I mean like, you know what?

[SPEAKER_01]: God, I just pray that you show yourself to this person that they need you and at the end, seeing the heart not the comments.

[SPEAKER_01]: because that's what we're after, is we're after hearts for Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna pray and we'll close out here in a minute, but dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for today, Lord, we thank you for your word.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, we thank you for your goodness, for your grace, Lord, that you did choose us, Father, and I just thank you for that, Lord, I thank you for your goodness, Lord, I pray that you give us the strength to walk in the things that sometimes are scary and in the ways that,

[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't make sense to us Lord, I pray that you give us wisdom and discernment with our words and Lord, just a heart for others to pour out, to come back to you, Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just thank you for this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just pray if there's any here, Lord, that are needing of you, Lord, that maybe knew who you were and

[SPEAKER_01]: and don't know or are never known you Lord, I just pray, Lord, that you just speak to them, Lord, I pray, Lord, that you use us to be a light Lord and that we will just be faithful and that we'll sometimes get out of our own way and Father, we just thank you for this time and for everyone that's here, and Jesus name, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to encourage you guys during this time we're going to do communion and in it will pass that out.

[SPEAKER_01]: If today you're like, I don't know what I believe, I'm still trying to figure that out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to challenge you to have an answer for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to tell me, it's not like I'm going to quiz you at the end of the day like, what do you believe?

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want you to know for yourself what you believe.

[SPEAKER_01]: As we do communion, if today you're like, I don't know if I believe in the Jesus thing yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: just let the cup pass for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to judge you.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible does talk about though not taking it in an unworthy way, meaning if you're like, I don't believe in the Jesus thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't take it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're like, I don't know that I'm worthy to take it.

[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as you just poured on Jesus, because that's what it's for.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is a reminder of how we are not worthy and it was because of Jesus' sacrifice that we do remember this.

[SPEAKER_01]: That you messed up this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just take that time and say God, I messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've messed up the last 20, something years, 30, whatever, 50, I don't care.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fill in the blank.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is your time to make it right before the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you've never accepted Jesus into your heart, it's literally just God, I messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been the Saul and I've done things I shouldn't have done and what I pray that you forgive me of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that you come into my life and help me to live for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's easy is that.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you want, I would be more than happy to pray with you as well and mix around here in the back as well and there's others if you want prayer but I want to encourage you to use this time to do that but we're going to get into communion and then we're going to close out in a song.

[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you guys.