The Unexpected Encounter That Changed the World

Oh yeah. Today is the final installment

of our sermon series, Unexpected Moments That Change Everything.

And today's unexpected story, I think, is in the top five of all

the stories and scriptures in terms of how incredible and

impactful it is and maybe even in the world.

Yeah, I was talking about this story last week to the lead

pastor of one of the fastest growing, largest churches in our

movement. And he said that this story is

one of the reasons why he has confidence in Christ, that the

Bible is true and that Jesus is really Lord and Savior.

In fact, you guys might know of this pastor.

His name is Clayton Something, but you can't miss him.

He's this tall, dark, handsome, striking, winsome preacher, just

in case he's watching. Today's story is that of Saul,

or Paul as you might know him, and his unexpected encounter

with Jesus. We're talking about the apostle

Paul. We're talking about the guy who,

besides Jesus, from a human perspective, has had the

greatest influence on the spread and the development of

Christianity. And we probably would not be

here today from a human perspective.

It weren't for him. He wrote about half of the books

of the New Testament. He spent a lot of his life

traveling the Roman Empire to tell people who had never heard

about Jesus about this one who is Lord and Savior.

And he was imprisoned many times for his faith, ultimately gave

his life for Jesus Christ. And you'll see his name on the

top ten of those who have had the greatest influence on our

culture, on Western civilization itself.

This is a huge story, and I'm just praying that I can do a

justice today. Well, Saul's story is not only

an amazing, unexpected encounter with Jesus, it's also, and maybe

more importantly, the model for all of us who put our faith in

Jesus Christ. So all twelve of our locations,

to those joining online and inside, I'm so glad you're with

us. And we just praise God for all

that he's doing in our midst of this church.

And if you're new around here, we're so glad that you're here.

We would love to connect with you.

And if you're looking to connect more with God and with this

church, please stop by the New Here booth at the conclusion of

this service at your location. Well, today's story starts in

the book of Acts. We got to get the backdrop of

Saul's story to really appreciate it for all that it

is. The book of Acts is the 5th book

in the New Testament. It's a killer book full of lots

of adventures about what happens after Jesus returns to heaven,

how the church grows, and everything that takes place in

Acts chapter 2 after Jesus had returned to heaven.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

This was about 50 days after his crucifixion.

They preach the gospel for the first time.

The Holy Spirit comes and 3000 people become Christians in one

day. And from Acts chapter 2, when

Acts 2 · chapter mention

that happened, for the next few chapters and through Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, it's just up and to the right there.

The church is growing every day and sometimes again by thousands

at a time. It's incredible.

That's takes place for about 3 to five years.

But then in Acts Chapter 7, things take a turn.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

The first Christian, his name was Stephen, was put to death

for his faith in Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 8, it says the

Acts 8 · chapter mention

church was being destroyed. In Acts chapter 8, verse one,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

there's something that I want to read to you about what was

happening with the church. It says on that day a great

persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all

except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and

Samaria. The Christians were on the run

for their lives and those who are antagonizing the the church

thought we're going to get rid of this thing no sooner than it

started. And those who are probably new

to the faith, we're thinking what's going on.

I just put my faith in the one who said he's Lord of heaven and

earth and now this is happening to me.

God, what are you doing while you allowing this to happen?

Everything was great in Jerusalem where they were

together for those few years, but now they're having to

scatter and be separated. And I don't know what's going

on, but if you would have read from Acts chapter 1, you would

Acts 1 · chapter mention

know that what was happening in this moment was actually playing

into Jesus hands perfectly. Acts chapter one verse 8 says

this. Jesus says you will be my

witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the

ends of the earth. From a human perspective, what

seemed like the worst thing in the world was actually Jesus's

plans being perfectly accomplished.

And isn't this what happens in our lives so much of the time?

What seems to be the most chaotic, hopeless situation is

actually God accomplishing his perfect plans in our lives.

That thing that you're resisting the most, maybe that thing that

you're praying to God that he would take away, is actually

maybe God working out his plans intentionally to the T for your

life. And in fact, the Bible gives a

promise to those who are Christians of that very thing.

If you are a person who loves God, and if you're a person who

has received and accepted the call of God according to His

purposes, you have this promise in Romans 828 that God causes

all things, the good things and the bad things to work together

for good for you. And if you're not yet a

believer, you can have that promise over your life too.

That's what was happening even in the midst of what seemed to

be so terrible from a human perspective in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Well, we go to Acts Chapter 9 and that's where we meet Saul a

Acts 9 · chapter mention

little bit more. Saul had given approval to

Stephens death in Acts Chapter 7, but he's pressing the attack

Acts 7 · chapter mention

and here's what it says in Acts Chapter 9, verse one.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and

asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, one of

these cities in those outlying regions, so that if he found

there any belonging to the way, that's the way of Jesus, that's

Christians, whether men or women, he might take them as

prisoners to Jerusalem. It wasn't enough for Saul that

Christianity was starting to come apart at the seams, as it

seemed. No, he wanted to chase down

these Christians and eradicate this new faith right away.

Why was Saul so hostile to Christianity?

Because he was a zealous Jew. He knew the Old Testament inside

and out, and he had lived his whole life for this purpose.

In fact, you might have known from his name, if you were a

person who knew about Judaism, that Saul is a very Jewish name.

Saul was the first king of the Jews 1000 years earlier.

And so this Saul in our story story is trying to do the same

thing as King Saul did, which was to lead for God in his

generation. And Saul thought that anyone

from the Old Testament, anyone who claims to be God, who's a

person should be put to death. That was Jesus.

And anyone who would perpetuate this lie, this fact that Jesus

of Nazareth is claiming to be God, well, they don't deserve to

live any longer either. When you think of Saul, you need

to be thinking of the most Antichrist person who comes to

your mind. You need to be thinking of maybe

for you it's like Hitler, Marx, somebody like this, a world

leader in the past. You might be thinking of the

most hardened atheists who are trying to convince people not to

believe in Christianity, like Christopher Hitchens, a rich

Richard Dawkins. Maybe you're thinking of the

most radical Islamics who are trying to kill anybody who does

not follow Allah, who is not a Muslim.

There is nobody in world history who has been more Antichrist

than Saul was, and that was until his unexpected encounter

with Jesus. We read about that in verse 3 as

he neared Saul near Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light

from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard

a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Who are you, Lord? Saul asked.

I I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied.

Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you

must do. Saul got up from the ground, but

when he opened his eyes he could see nothing, so they let him by

the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind and

did not eat or drink anything. So here's Saul.

He's going from Jerusalem to Damascus.

He's walking along the way, and he's as confident as you could

possibly be about what he was doing.

He thought he was doing a service for God.

And as he's going along, the Bible tells us in another place

that it was in the middle of the day.

So the Suns out in all of its brilliance, and yet there is a

light that flashes around him that puts the brilliance of the

sun to shame. It causes him to fall to his

knees. He's completely disoriented,

trying to figure out what in the world just happened.

And he hears a voice, and it's a divine voice.

And the voice asks him a question.

The voice says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

He says who are you Lord? And he hears 3 words that change

his life forever. I am Jesus.

You see, Saul had thought to this point that he's just

dealing with this rogue movement of people that he could control,

that he could put to put put down.

Saul thought that he's just think that he's just dealing

with these kind of beliefs in this worldview and this thought

that's out there that he can argue against.

But what Saul realized in that unexpected moment is that

Christianity isn't just a movement.

Christianity is not just an idea.

Jesus is alive. He is real, and he is living and

reigning and ruling right now. And you might be here this

morning and you're saying, hey, you know, this church gets

together and they worship because they all have the same

moral values. They share all the same just

convictions and worldview about the world.

They like all the same music. They like the big guy on stage

who has to apologize for what he just said right before that.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We get together.

We're here today and we're here every time we gather because of

one thing, because of Jesus. He is alive and He really lived

a perfect, sinless life, and He really died on the cross for the

sins of the whole world. And He really, on the third day,

rose again. And He's really in heaven right

now and He's praying for us and He's really coming back again on

a day that we won't expect. And He's really right here with

us as we're gathered in His name by His Holy Spirit.

Oh, Christianity is not just another religion of the world's

religions. It's a relationship with the

living Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

And you know what I think is more impressive than the flash

of light or the audible voice of God in that encounter is what we

learn about Jesus. You see, Jesus wasn't threatened

by Saul coming after his people. He wasn't like, oh, no, what are

we going to do? Saul's trying to destroy

Christianity. Jesus doesn't fight against Saul

and say, like, I'm going to take this guy out and teach him a

lesson. What we learn about Jesus in

this encounter is that Jesus comes to his enemies.

He comes to them gently with a question.

He comes to them in love. You might think that Jesus is

really threatened and bothered by all of the people in our

society today who are against him.

All the universities, all the political leaders, all the

nations, all the systems that hate Jesus and are trying to

oppose him. He's not threatened.

He loves them. And if you're here today and

you're mad at God, Jesus wants you to know he's not mad back at

you. He loves you.

He wants a relationship with you.

Jesus isn't about retaliation. Jesus is about redemption.

Jesus doesn't want to fight against you.

He wants to forgive you. He loves you.

Saul was reflecting on this encounter with Jesus later in

his life in one of his letters, First Timothy.

And there he answered the question, why did Jesus choose

to appear to him and not somebody else?

There are a lot of people that Jesus got appeared to.

Why did he choose saw? This is what we learned in First

Timothy chapter 116. But for that reason I was shown

mercy, so that in me the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus, might

display his immense patience as an example for those who would

believe in him and receive eternal life.

Jesus intentionally chose the most unexpected suspect in Saul

so that you and I and that generations from the 1st century

until now until Jesus comes again would say to ourselves, if

Jesus wanted Saul, then Jesus can want me.

If Jesus can come to and save and change the most the the

chief of sinners, the worst of sinners, there's nobody who he

can't change. I was talking recently to

somebody sharing about how I have a friend who makes films

and he's been meeting with the Son of Sam, the guy who was the

serial murderer who's become a Christian.

And this person was saying what? That is a hard thing to imagine,

that a person like him could become a Christian.

But Jesus does the unexpected and there is nobody you or

anybody you know that can't be saved and changed by him.

Maybe you've heard the story about Lee Strobel.

Lee Strobel was a guy who went to the University of Missouri as

an undergraduate or any Mizzou fans in the House.

Then he went to Yale University for his law degree and he joined

the team at Chicago Tribune. He was an award-winning

journalist and a reporter in their legal department.

Well, in 1979, Lee's wife became a Christian.

Now this was a problem because Lee was a convinced and hardened

atheist. And so when his wife became a

Christian and he was new to his marriage, he didn't just, he

didn't say like, oh, OK, yes, dear.

He hadn't learned that part of marriage yet.

No, he said, I'm not having this.

And so he said to himself, I'm going to take all my skills and

all my learning and I'm going to put together the most convincing

case, the Christianity is not true, so I can win my wife back

from this crazy Christianity. And so he goes on this two year

expedition to disprove Christianity.

And in 1981, Lee Strobel gave his life to Jesus Christ and he

went on to become a pastor of one of the largest churches in

Houston, TX. And he's written multiple books.

The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and so many others

trying to convince people of the exact same thing that Saul

experienced is that Jesus is alive.

And there are stories all across all of our rooms where we're

gathered of people like this. Who wouldn't have thought they'd

be here today, raising their hands, praising God, being in

church because Jesus did the unexpected thing in their life

too. And he can do it in your life if

you will put your faith in Him today.

Well, as amazing as Saul's encounter with Jesus was, it

wasn't enough. You would think that if you have

that kind of encounter, this flash of light, audible voice of

Jesus, it's like, boy, you're good to go from that point on.

But Jesus actually said, no, Saul, there's more I've got for

you, but you've got to get up and you got to go into Damascus

and wait until you learn what's next.

And that's a lesson for all of us.

You know, you might have had an encounter with Jesus where maybe

he was in this room and you were moved to tears and you just felt

his presence and you heard him speaking to you and the words

that came through you knew were the voice of God to you.

And maybe it was a time where he brought you through a trial and

you prayed and prayed and prayed and said, God bring me through

this and he brought you through. Maybe it was a healing that you

were asking, God, give me more time and he healed you.

Maybe it was at one of our conferences or at camp, you

experienced an encounter with Jesus and it was undeniable.

But the encounters that we have with Jesus aren't all that we

need. It's an invitation to take the

next step of faith to see what more He's got for you.

We aren't meant to just go from encounter to encounter, as great

as those encounters are, and we love those.

But they are just God calling us to go and take the next step of

faith with Him. And I just want to say, too, if

you're here today and if you're here in my voice, you're saying,

man, I've never had one of those encounters, so I can't even

relate to you. So maybe God's just not for me.

I want you to go and listen to last week's sermon which

addresses that very question. Saul goes on to Damascus, and

there he's waiting. And as he's waiting, Jesus

decides, hey, the way I'm going to give Saul my messages through

another person. And that person's name is

Ananias. Ananias is already a Christian

who lives in Damascus. Jesus appears to him in a vision

and says, Saul's in town. And Ananias is thinking, this

can't be good because he doesn't know what happened on the road.

And Jesus says, I've got a message I want you to take to

him. And Ananias is just trying to

figure out, is this really Jesus to speaking to me or what?

And so we pick up on this part of the story in verse 13.

Lord Ananias answered, I've heard many reports about this

man and all the harm he's done to the holy people in Jerusalem,

and he's come here with the authority of the chief priest to

arrest those who call on your name.

You want me to go get arrested by this guy?

The Lord says to Ananias, go, this man is my chosen instrument

to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to

the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must

suffer from my name. This just goes to reinforce the

idea of how wicked Saul was, that Jesus has to appear in a

vision to a guy and, and, and Ananias even gets the vision and

he's still doubting whether he was really supposed to obey.

And Jesus has to say, go, this is real, this is me.

But what we learn in Ananias's words that he has to deliver to

Saul is more about why Jesus chose Saul to appear to him.

What we learn is that Saul is not just being called to Jesus,

he's being commissioned for Jesus.

Saul is not just changing from being persecutor to believer.

That would have been big enough, right?

That's a huge story. No, he's being changed from

persecutor to preacher. He's being changed from

Christianity enemy #1 to Christianity evangelist #1.

This is like Osama bin Laden being changed into Billy Graham

to preach the gospel to the whole world.

And this is where we begin to understand why Saul became Paul.

Sometimes people mistakenly think that Jesus changed Saul's

name to Paul, but actually Saul voluntarily chose his name or

changed his name from Saul to Paul so that he could fulfill

his mission. And what was the mission Jesus

told him to do? You're going to go be you're

going to go and proclaim my name to the Gentiles.

Who are the Gentiles? The Gentiles are non Jewish

people. So he's talking about the whole

Roman Empire. Saul, that's your territory.

And you're even going to preach to the kings.

Now, you're still going to preach to the Jews, but this is

your primary audience over here. And Saul, he didn't want to go

into town, all these Greco Roman towns coming in with the name

Saul because a lot of the people already might think, oh, this

guy's preaching about Judaism and we already know about that.

We're not interested. And so Saul ditched his name

Saul, when he was going to preach to the Gentiles, and he

took the name Paul, which was a much more Greco Roman name

because Paul wanted to do whatever he could do to win as

many people as possible to who did not know about Jesus, that

he is Lord and Savior. You got to hear me out.

And the same thing is true for us when Jesus calls us to faith

in him. It's not just so that we can

have the gift of salvation. It's so that we can pass on the

gift of salvation. Everybody is called and

commissioned. Everybody who's a disciple is

supposed to be making disciples. Now, I realize not everybody has

the same gifting. Not everybody is called to be

able to go and preach to the whole world.

Not everybody's called to stand up on a stage.

But everybody's called to make disciples.

And God has put people in your life on purpose, people who are

close to you but far from Him, so that you and so that I can be

his chosen instrument to reveal to them what we have learned

about Jesus. I think you guys would agree

with me when you say that the greatest thing in our life is

that we know Jesus Christ. There's nothing that's been

better than the day that we put our faith in Him and have known

Him for the rest of our lives. That's the greatest thing in the

world. It's #1 but I think the second

greatest thing in the world is getting to lead somebody else to

Jesus, too, Being able to be a part of somebody else's

experience of coming home to faith in the one who loved them

and died for them. Now I want to address what Jesus

said to Saul at the very end. It's a sobering word.

It's like following on this incredible privilege and

excitement about you're going to be my preacher to the whole

world. It's like, OK, that's

incredible. But there's this, there's a

sober message at the end that you're going to suffer a lot for

me and I don't want. I don't think that Jesus was

saying that so that we would think that he's getting back at

Saul, that he's like trying to punish him for all the things

that he did, like all the harm he caused all those other

Christians. It's not what Jesus is talking

about. What Jesus is talking about is

the kind of suffering that all the other apostles experienced

as well, all except for one of Jesus apostles was murdered for

his faith and the other one who wasn't was in prison for life.

And this is true for you and me as well.

We carry a light, the light of God in the world, but it's in

the darkness, isn't it? And sometimes the darkness

responds and they take that light in faith and they say

thank you, I'm so glad. But other times the darkness

wants to quench the light. And so if you're wanting to take

Jesus to other people, just like Saul, you need to hear there's

going to be some suffering. There's going to be sometimes

when people say, no, I'm not interested.

There's going to be sometimes where you feel like embarrassed

for saying what you just said. They're going to be sometimes

that you're, they're going to talk about you behind your back.

But it's a small price to pay in light of the price that Jesus

paid for us and the joy and the privilege that we get by being

able to share Jesus with other people.

Well, Jesus comes to Saul and he comes to him through Ananias,

and he not only delivers the word, he lays his hands on him

and he prays for him. And this is what happens in the

final scene, Acts Chapter 9, verse 17.

Acts 9:17

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it, places his 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 so that you may see again and be filled with the

Holy Spirit. Immediately something like

scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again.

He got up and was baptized and after taking some food he

regained his strength. What happened here in this final

scene with Saul is actually the exact same thing that happens to

anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ.

He received the Holy Spirit, it says he was baptized and the

scales fell from his eyes. And you might be saying, wait,

OK, I know I received Jesus when I put my faith in him.

I know that I got baptized. But scales falling from the

eyes, like what do you mean? Wait?

I didn't catch that part. The reason that I think Jesus

temporarily blinded Saul on the way was to teach him a spiritual

lesson. That's true for us as well.

You see, Saul thought he knew exactly what life was about

before Jesus. He thought he understood the Old

Testament as clear as day. He thought he knew who God was.

He thought he knew the meaning and purpose of his life and of

life in general. But it wasn't until he

encountered Jesus that he realized that before Jesus, he

was actually completely missing the boat.

He was blind. But it was only in the light of

Jesus that the scales fall off. And he realized the whole that

the whole Old Testament was actually all about Jesus.

He realized that God's actually God who doesn't want to

retaliate, He wants to redeem. He realized that who he is and

his purpose in life. And the same thing is true for

all of us who put our faith in Jesus.

I look back on your life before, if you're a Christian, before

you knew Jesus, you thought you knew who you wanted to be.

You thought you knew the meaning and purpose of your life.

You thought you knew what kind of marriage you wanted to have,

what kind of kids you want to raise, all this sort of stuff.

But now that you've put your faith in Jesus, you realize you

were so misled. You were just wandering around

in the dark. You were completely blind to

what life was really about. But now, in the light of Jesus,

the scales came off and you realized who you are in Christ.

It's your love by God. You realize your purpose and

your calling to be able to love him and to make Him known.

You realize the meaning of life. It's all about God and Jesus and

loving other people. The scales come off only in the

light of Jesus. As we wrap up this sermon

series, we think back on the last several unexpected stories

we've had. We started with Zacchaeus, and

then Nicodemus, and then Gyrus's daughter and Gyrus and and the

woman with the issue of blood and Thomas and now Saul.

And there's been a common thread, as Clayton pointed out

last week, that's been woven through them all.

And it's this faith is the currency of heaven.

If you go to the store today on your way home to get some food

and you go up to the register to pay and you pull out your

Mexican pesos, well, sorry, you're not going home with

anything. But if you've got cash, you can

get whatever you want. In fact, if you have enough, you

could probably pay and buy the whole store and nobody would ask

questions as much as you have of that right currency, you can

have it. And so if you're coming today

and you're saying I'm ready to start a relationship with Jesus

Christ because you know what, I have been so good this week, I'm

sorry, your good works aren't the currency of heaven.

If you're coming to God today and you're saying, God, I really

want to see you work in my life and I want to know that I have

eternity with you because you know what, I'm a really well

respected person in my community.

I'm sorry to say you're not doing business with God that

way. But if you come today and you

say God, I'm not anything special.

But I heard today what you did with Saul, and I know then if

you can do it with him, you can do it with me.

And I put my faith in your son, Jesus Christ.

Guess what? You can do business with God.

Access to God is given by faith in His Son, and that's for

anyone. Saul, Paul later in his writings

talked about his life and his calling and his purpose, and he

wrote this one verse about himself that I feel like it's

kind of a mission statement for his life.

And it says this in Galatians 220.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but

Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave

himself for me. Saul's statement that he can

leave his old life behind and have Jesus Christ living through

him is the same thing that anybody can have written over

their life. If God did it for him, He can do

it for you. And all it takes is putting your

faith in Jesus Christ and walking with him by faith every

day of your life. We're moving to a time of

decision. To those of you who have not yet

started an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ,

today can be the day where you cross that line.

And God wants to do that. He is waiting.

He is ready. And in First Timothy 116 that I

read earlier, the Bible says God says the reason that you heard

this message about Saul is to let you know the immense

patience he has for you. Immense patience.

That's a lot of patience. Jesus will keep calling you.

He'll keep waiting for you. He'll keep enduring all your

misgivings and all your doubts and all your questions and all

you're not yet. Jesus is like that parent who's

just patiently, calmly waiting for the child to settle down and

be ready to move on. Jesus is like that patient

parent who's waiting for the teenager to come home, the

rebellious teenager. He doesn't even know if he's

going to come home that night, but he's got the light on and

he's waiting up, just hoping and waiting for him to come home.

There was a time in my life when I was wrestling with this

decision about whether I wanted to put my faith in Jesus.

And it was back probably 30 years ago.

And there was this Christian song at the time that my youth

pastor used to sing, and it would go like this.

It says Jesus is here with his arms open wide.

You can see him with your heart if you'll stop looking with your

eyes. And it talks about how Jesus is

standing before us and he's got the crown of thorns on his head

and his the blood's just beaten down his forehead and he's got

tears in his eyes. He's got the marks on his hand

in his side and he's got, he's just standing there waiting for

you to come. And he says, I've done

everything that needs to be done.

All you got to do is come. And you know Paul, even though

he got to see Jesus or at least have that visual encounter with

him of the flash of light and hearing the audible voice, he

still said later in Second Corinthians 47, we walk by faith

and not by sight. Jesus is here.

The fact of the matter, you don't have to imagine or wonder

if that's true. He's here.

He made a promise that whenever we gather in His name, He's in

our midst and He's standing before you and He's ready for

you to come. Will you put your faith in Him

today? But it takes movement.

Faith is something that has to be exercised or it's not faith.

Would you raise your hand today? Would you come forward today?

Would you step out and say, I'm going to do it?

I'm going to take Jesus at His word.

I'm going to trust in Him as my Lord and Savior.

You can do that today as we sing this next song, as people come

forward to pray, You can come forward, you can pray, you can

go and talk to somebody over here under the screen to learn

about how you can start that intimate personal relationship

with Jesus Christ. As we sang earlier, you can come

out of the grave. You can come out of the

darkness. You can come out of the

blindness and step into His glorious light and find Jesus

Christ in all the unexpected, beautiful things He wants to do

in your life. And for those of you who are

believers in Jesus Christ for us, is Christ living in your

life or have you gone back and started living your own life?

As Paul said, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives

in me. Are there parts of your life

that you have not surrendered to Jesus today?

Would you fall on your knees like Saul did?

And in that moment of of falling to his knees, it was like a

moment of surrender. It's like I give up.

I don't stand on my own 2 feet anymore.

I put my faith in the Son of God and not faith for the first

time, but faith in those areas of your life where you're

struggling to make him Lord of your life.

Maybe it's your finances, maybe your relationships, maybe your

thought life and whatever it is, say God, take this part of my

life today. I can't do it, but faith is the

currency of heaven. You can do it.

So I put my trust in you. God work in my life because I

want you to shine through me to the world around me.

Would you stand and pray? Jesus, you are an incredible God

and you are alive and we love you.

Father, thank you for sending your own Son, Thank you for

loving us so much, and thank you, Holy Spirit, that you are

here with us right now. And I pray that you would have

your way in each of our hearts and lives.

Father, through your Spirit that we would respond and that you

would be glorified and lifted up so that people can come to know

Jesus Christ as Lord and his Savior.

Amen.